Tigres de la UANL forward Jenni Hermoso, world champion with the Spanish women’s soccer team, is among the 100 most influential people of 2024 for Time magazine.
Hermoso was the visible face of the ‘revolution’ that Spanish football experienced after the non-consensual kiss that the then president of the Spanish Federation, Luis Rubiales, gave him during the medal ceremony for winning the World Cup in Australia/New Zealand. last August.
Rubiales was disqualified for three years by FIFA, resigned and faces a trial for these events, which could constitute a criminal offense if sexual assault and coercion of the player are considered.
The publication has chosen Maná Shim, the former soccer player who led the harassment complaints in the American league, to write the text that accompanies Hermoso’s appointment. “Speaking out in 2021 about my own experience with sexual harassment was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, so I know how much bravery it takes,” she says.
“Hermoso bravely spoke his truth, again and again, despite efforts to silence him. After Spanish players united in protest, Rubiales resigned and was eventually suspended for three years by FIFA. In the National Soccer League Women’s last summer, my teammates and I were proud to wear her name on our wrist to support her and continue her call for change,” explains Shim.
Along with the Spanish forward, other athletes appear on Time’s list such as the American quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the Formula One world champion, the Dutch Max Verstappen, the South African rugby player Siya Kolisi, the American basketball player A’ ja Wilson and the indica fighter Sakshi Malik.
Artists, icons, titans, leaders, innovators and pioneers are the labels under which the magazine entered those selected this year. The three Latin Americans were designated in the leaders category, headed by Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni. American actress América Ferrera, of Honduran roots, was chosen to head this year’s list of pioneers.
More than a dozen artists were also included, including Sofia Coppola, Elliot Page, Burna Boy, Dua Lipa, Jeffrey Wright, Kylie Minogue, Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Maya Rudolph, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Colman Domingo, Dev Patel, and Alex Edelman, among others.
Icons of fashion, visual and literary arts include Jenny Holzer, Tory Burch and Jonathan Anderson, among others, as well as media figures and journalists such as Kelly Ripa, Connie Walker and E. Jean Carroll.
Microsoft chief Satya Nadella and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes are on the list for the third time.
Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki; actor Michael J. Fox; actress Taraji P. Henson; Taiwanese entrepreneur Jensen Huang and Ferrera repeat for the second time on the list.
Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, 25, is the youngest person on this year’s list, and scientist Joel Habener is the oldest at 86. Japanese professors Katsuhiko Hayashi and Akiko Iwasaki were also included in the selection.
The magazine presents the hundred chosen through profiles also written by personalities including the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who wrote the profile of worker leader Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union.
The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Anderson Cooper, Tom Brady, Mark Zuckerberg, Ryan Reynolds, Richard Branson, Ashton Kutcher, Zoe Saldaña, Salma Hayek and Lenny Kravitz, are also among the writers selected for celebrate the work of those chosen.
