Hope Solo: Memoir of US Women's Soccer Star More Flash Than Substance

U.S. women's soccer star Hope Solo claims in her memoir, Solo: A Memoir of Hope, that dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy slapped her during rehearsals for Dancing with the Stars, per FoxNews.com.

This comes after she told US Magazine that she withheld the information previously because she didn't want to "end Maks' career."

So, let me get this straight: She withheld the information before, but still went through with it in her memoir?

You can't help but question her motives.

Chmerkovskiy tweeted on Friday:

"

Always hated hypocrites and liars...but when someone is both AND an opportunist, I just feel bad for them. Can't win at someone's expense...

— Maksim Chmerkovskiy (@MaksimC) August 16, 2012"

Solo also claims, per FoxNews.com:

"

He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly. I thought that was just how it went – how dancers worked with each other. But it kept getting worse. One day, Maks was trying to put me in a certain position and hit my stomach so hard with his open palm that I had a red handprint there for the rest of the day.

"

There is no way to know for sure if Solo's words are accurate, but it is odd that she would include the alleged debacle in her memoir, anyway.

This is the kind of stuff that sells, but was it really important to include? Solo is a world-famous goalkeeper for an American squad that just won the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics and finished second to Japan in the 2011 World Cup. You'd think she'd have more "hopeful" things to talk about than her dance partner slapping her one day.

Solo has become a celebrity ever since the U.S. women's run to the World Cup final last year and she knows this. She appeared in ESPN the Magazine's Body issue last year, to much publicity, as well as on the cover of Vogue.

There is a lot to like about Solo's memoir (including the story of her upbringing and family life), but by including her stint in Dancing with the Stars she trivializes a rather remarkable life. That could have easily been left out, and it now puts her in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Solo has overcome so much to get where she is, but acting like a celebrity isn't going to get her much further.

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