39-Year-Old Carli Lloyd Just Became the Oldest Scorer in the History of Olympic Soccer

Three-time Olympic medalist Carli Lloyd had already made history after being named to the USWNT roster for the Tokyo Olympics. At 39, she's the oldest American woman ever to compete in the Olympic tournament. Now, with two goals in the team's bronze medal rout over Australia, she's also the oldest soccer player in history to score a goal on the world's biggest stage.

That record was previously held by Ryan Giggs, a British player who was 38 years old when he scored against the United Arab Emirates during an Olympic match on July 29, 2012. On the women's side of things, Lloyd herself was the oldest player to score prior to the Tokyo Games. She was 34 when she scored twice — once against New Zealand and once against France — during the group play stage at the 2016 Rio Olympics. With the two goals in Tokyo, which marked Lloyd's fourth Olympic appearance, she not only bested her own record, but also edged out Giggs.

While there are other seasoned veterans in the women's game who could take a shot at Lloyd's record, it's likely that she'll be in a league of her own for quite some time. Since 1992, there has been an age limit in place for the men's Olympic tournament: athletes must be under the age of 23, although each team is allowed to have up to three players who are older. This year, the age limit was extended to 24, so that any athletes who would have been eligible for the Tokyo Olympics before they were postponed could play in the rescheduled tournament.

Olympic women's soccer, however, has no such rule, which left the door open for Lloyd to set not one, but two, scoring records during the tournament. With her second goal in the match against Australia — the 10th of her Olympic career — Lloyd broke the all-time US record for goals scored at the Olympic Games, last held by USWNT legend Abby Wambach.