updated 4:58 p.m. ET Aug. 27, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - After winning the gold medal game in overtime and celebrating through the night with family and friends, Mia Hamm finally went to bed at 6 a.m.

A few hours later, she said she felt guilty staying seated for her final round of Olympics interviews. She just didn’t have the energy to stand.

The good news is she now has plenty to time catch up on her rest. Over breakfast with teammate Joy Fawcett, Hamm laughed about the fact she never again has to do 120s or 800s — codes names for team conditioning runs — now that she is retiring from the game.

“I don’t have to figure out what my workout’s going to be tomorrow,” Hamm said Friday. “If I want to go for a run, I can go for a run — and it doesn’t have to be that fast. ... My body’s thanking me right now.”

Hamm said she’s picked the right time to call it quits, professionally and personally. Her 32-year-old legs barely made it through Thursday’s 2-1 win over Brazil. She admits her teammates carried the weight of the victory, the way she’s carried them so many times over the last 17 years. She’s found happiness with husband Nomar Garciaparra, and is ready to become a full-time Chicago Cubs fans and eventually a mother.

“When you were younger, sitting down to tie your shoes was enough warmup to get out there and play,” Hamm said. “And now ... it’s all these little things. I was in the training room this entire tournament. I had a quad contusion. Now it turns into a slight strain. This never happened before. I want a quality of life when I’m done playing. I don’t want to be somebody that is having surgery after surgery after surgery, trying to find that quality of life.

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“Physically, it’s one thing, but emotionally and psychologically it’s a whole different level. Ending on this victory makes it a lot easier.”

Nevertheless, Hamm will wear the U.S. uniform a few more times. U.S. soccer officials have unveiled plans for a 10-game send-off tour of exhibition games for this fall, starting Sept. 25 against Iceland in Rochester, N.Y. Other dates and cities will be announced later.

“I’d love to participate in several,” Hamm said. “I don’t know if I can do 10.”

Hamm and her teammates planned to cheer on other U.S. athletes over the final days of the Olympics and march in the closing ceremony. Then it’s off to Chicago to catch up on her husband’s new routine: He was playing with the Boston Red Sox when she last saw him and was traded to Chicago just before the U.S. team departed for Greece.

“I can’t wait to get there and cheer ’em,” Hamm said.

Hamm didn’t call Garciaparra immediately after her game because the Cubs were playing at the same time. Garciaparra purposely avoided learning the outcome of Hamm’s game until watching a replay on a DVD that had been made for him.

Hamm, Fawcett and Julie Foudy are leaving at the same time, and they feel good about the state of their sport. They have been pioneers, not just for women’s soccer, but for women’s sports in general. The next generation of U.S. players — including Abby Wambach, Heather O’Reilly, Lindsay Tarpley — are set to carry on the class act.

“They’re going to be around for a very long time,” Hamm said. “And they’re only going to get better.”

That’s not to say the United States will keep winning golds. Other countries have learned from the Americans and are now their equal. The young Brazilian team that controlled much of the game Thursday night might well be the world’s best team by the next Olympics — though Germany and Sweden might have something to say about that.

“I’m just happy I’m retiring,” Foudy said, “and don’t have to face Brazil for the next four years.”

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