MANAUS, Brazil — Late Tuesday evening, as the Amazon temperature danced at 90 degrees with humidity in step, Janine van Wyk, a defender with South Africa’s women’s soccer team, paused just a second to take in the packed and throbbing Amazônia Arena, filled with 43,000 gloriously nuts fans.
She thought to herself, “This is amazing, to realize that all these people are supporting the women’s game,” she told me later. “This lets younger girls everywhere know our sport is growing.”
She flashed a quick smile even though her team had just been knocked out of the Olympic tournament.