David Beckham: Will He Make the Olympics?

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/04/2012 at 10:55 AM EDT

He appears to have everything – great looks, a happy marriage to Victoria Beckham, four healthy children, a lucrative career and his own underwear line – so what is David Beckham missing? Olympic status.

That is something the soccer star, 37, hopes to change very soon.

"I'm very proud of what I've achieved in my career so far," said the L.A. Galaxy (and former Manchester United) player in an interview with Meredith Vieira on the Today show Monday. "I've obviously played for the national team for quite a few years, and now I want to represent the G.B. team in the Olympics."

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In London for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration, Beckham answered his critics who say his celebrity status has overshadowed his athletic abilities.

"I'm not surprised," he told Vieira about the criticism. "I don't really take too much interest in those kind of comments, but I have said that I felt that those comments are disrespectful, because I've had kind of a successful career with what I do."

Not that his success has gone to his head, he made clear, quoting his father, Ted Backham, who was never one to praise.

"If I had a good game," said Beckham, "my Dad would say, 'You did okay, but these are the things you should be doing.' "

Beckham said his father finally sort of praised him when "I was 26 or 27."

Thinking back to that, "It brings me goosebumps," he said, "because it's an amazing moment to hear that from someone you look up to for years and continue to look up to."

As a father himself, Beckham happily raves about his children, especially daughter Harper, who is nearly 1.

"[We are] totally wrapped around her finger," he said. "The moment she was born, me and the boys were done."

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