Tokyo Olympics: USWNT Star Carli Lloyd, With 'Weight Lifted Off My Shoulders,' Looking To Add To Trophy Case
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The U.S. women's soccer team didn't get off to a great start in Tokyo, but with Carli Lloyd, there's a good chance they'll bounce back. The South Jersey native is going for gold again.
Has anyone ever told you, "You look good for your age?" It's the ultimate backhanded compliment. Well, no one will ever say that about Lloyd's game because her "good" is legendary.
The average age of the U.S. women's team, not counting the alternates, is 29 and change. Lloyd is 10 years older than that and seemingly aging in reverse.
"I just feel like there's a weight lifted off my shoulders," Carli Lloyd said.
Delran, New Jersey native Carli Lloyd, one of soccer's most decorated players, is looking to add to the trophy case, perhaps for the last time.
She's in Tokyo vying for her third straight gold medal in her fourth Olympic games. Now 39 years old, Lloyd says she's in a great place in her life and career.
"I feel really good, I feel probably the best I've ever felt mentally, physically," she said. "But I've also stated that this is probably the happiest I've been. I feel like I'm really in the moment, feel like I'm really just taking everything in for the first time. I'm not sure if there's another next in the near future, so I'm just really soaking it all in."
Q: When you say "in the moment," did the first few Olympics just fly by? Were you so set on the goal of winning a gold or just winning a tournament that you kind of let it pass you by?
"You know, you're starting out in your career and you think you're playing forever, so you just kind of have that tunnel vision," she said, "and it's always 'what's next, what's next, what's next?' I just feel whole again, I feel like everything has come full circle in my life and in my career."
Part of that is thanks to her new Cherry Hill-based trainer Chris Halladay. Lloyd says working with him has made her as explosive as ever, but a weight has been lifted due to a renewed relationship with her family over the past year. Lloyd had been estranged from them for more than a decade.
"I really believe people come in and out of your life for a reason," Lloyd said. "I can't look back at the last 12 years or so and have too many regrets because I can't go into the past and change things, but I think we are in a really good spot right now and rekindled the relationship, and everything just feels normal."
The U.S. women are coming off a 3-0 loss to Sweden that snapped a 44-match unbeaten streak. They'll take on New Zealand on Saturday.