Canada's Christine Sinclair looks on during Group B soccer action against Nigeria at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, on July 21, 2023.Scott Barbour/The Canadian Press
Christine Sinclair cemented her legend in a gutting loss.
It was the women’s soccer semifinals against the United States at the 2012 London Olympics. Canada hadn’t beaten the U.S. in 11 years. Ms. Sinclair scored first; the U.S. responded. She scored again; the U.S. responded. Ms. Sinclair willed Canada into the lead once more, a hat trick of goals much more common in hockey than soccer. Canada was minutes from the gold medal final, four million Canadians watching at home, urging them on.
Then the referee blew the whistle against Canada, a highly unusual delay-of-game infraction. It felt rigged. The U.S. tied the match and won in the last moments of extra time. Afterward, Ms. Sinclair, normally quiet and reserved, didn’t hold back. Speaking with reporters, she called out the ref and later, outside the stadium, cursed the ref to her face.
Ms. Sinclair’s performance and defiance roused a nation. FIFA’s reprimand, a comically harsh four-game suspension, wasn’t immediately levied, so Ms. Sinclair was able to join her teammates to win the bronze medal against France.
It was Canada’s first team medal at a Summer Olympics in 76 years. Ms. Sinclair and the team returned home as heroes.
On Tuesday in Vancouver, Ms. Sinclair plays her final international game for a squad she joined 23 years ago at age 16. She has long ranked among Canada’s greatest athletes – no person has scored more goals in international soccer than Ms. Sinclair’s 190 – but her resonance, especially for girls and women, goes far beyond the game. Ms. Sinclair is an inspiration to millions and in recent years some of her most important work happened off the field, fighting for gender equality in a sport that, like most, values men well above women.
Ms. Sinclair grew up in the Vancouver suburbs. Her first love was baseball. Ms. Sinclair’s jersey, No. 12, is a nod to 1990s Toronto Blue Jays star Roberto Alomar. In international soccer, she was a force from the start, scoring three goals in her first tournament. Many years were a slog. Before the bronze medal in London, Ms. Sinclair and her team finished dead last at the 2011 Women’s World Cup.
Triumphs and failures followed. Canada won a second Olympic bronze at Rio 2016, where Ms. Sinclair scored the goal that would clinch the medal. The pinnacle was reached in 2021, a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, where Ms. Sinclair played most of the match but was on the sidelines during the deciding shootout. Between victories were hard losses. Canada often struggled at the Women’s World Cup. The toughest was in 2015, playing at home. It ended in heartbreak when Canada lost in the quarterfinals in Vancouver. “This one stings,” Ms. Sinclair said after but in the same breath celebrated the distance women’s soccer had come, 54,000 fans at the stadium.
This year, Ms. Sinclair found herself in a different arena, at a House of Commons committee in March to testify about the vast gaps between women and men in soccer. As she neared retirement, Ms. Sinclair pushed past her reticence in her advocacy. Her memoir, Playing the Long Game, was published last year. The struggle for equality was a central theme. On Parliament Hill, she spoke of finding out in 2021, the year of Olympic gold, that women on the national team were paid a fifth of what the men got. The women’s game had surged in popularity, Ms. Sinclair said, but players found their biggest battle was against Canada Soccer, years of seeking “fair and equitable treatment” in player pay and team funding.
Ms. Sinclair has found her voice and she continues to speak out. Canada was humbled at this year’s Women’s World Cup, where it couldn’t advance out of the group stage. Ms. Sinclair said it was a “wake-up call.” Canada has taken success for granted and is falling behind. It’s about a lack of investment: Out of 32 countries at the World Cup, Canada and Haiti were the only two without a professional domestic women’s league. (One is in the works for 2025.)
At a time when leadership is in short supply in Canada, Ms. Sinclair is a beacon. This fall, The Globe published a piece by Ms. Sinclair, a letter to her 16-year-old self. Twenty-three years, six World Cups, four Olympics, three Olympic medals; the record 190 international goals. The pittance pay in the early going, $10 a day on the national team. And the inspiration to Canadians across the country – girls most of all. Ms. Sinclair became the icon she never had. “You better believe we will continue to fight for what’s right,” she wrote. “For equality for past, present and future generations.”