Sue Bird Traded Her Basketball Uniform For Sleek Black Swimsuits in St. Thomas

Retired WNBA star Sue Bird is a four-time consecutive Olympic gold medalist and undeniably one of the gifted feminine basketball gamers ever. The former Seattle Storm level guard, who was the staff’s No. 1 draft choose in 2002, spent her complete stacked and legendary profession there, and lead the staff to 4 WNBA championships.

The 12-time WNBA All-Star retired from the game in 2022, the identical 12 months she posed for the SI Swimsuit Issue in St. Thomas alongside fellow highly effective feminine athletes, together with Breanna Stewart, DiDi Richards, Nneka Ogwumike and Te’a Cooper.

“I don’t know if [my accomplishments have] sunk in. I think it’s one of those things you’ll appreciate more when you’re done. I definitely have moments where I can look back and be proud of certain moments or proud of certain achievements, but also it’s about who you do it with and the journey of that. I’ve been really fortunate … to play with the players I’ve played with, some of the all-time greats. It’s hard to pick what I’m most proud of, sometimes I think it’s some of the things I’ve done toward the end of my career because I didn’t expect to still be playing,” Bird said about probably the most rewarding a part of her 20-plus-year profession. “I joke that I’m on borrowed time. I think back to some of the earlier moments, when I was proving myself, when I hadn’t done anything [yet] and getting over the hump of actually winning for the first time. There’s all kinds of stuff sprinkled in between. Maybe what I’m most proud of is I’ve done it in different decades—not many people can say they stayed on the top of their game for this long.”

Today, the 43-year-old is engaged to retired USWNT soccer star Megan Rapinoe, 38. The two run manufacturing firm A Touch More collectively.

Below are 5 fierce pictures from Bird’s 2022 SI Swimsuit photoshoot with Laretta Houston in St. Thomas.