Famous Sports Women
1. Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Jackie was one of the greatest Olympic athletes in history. She won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals over four consecutive Olympic Games. She was a rare combination of courage and grace, of power and vulnerability.
2. Billie Jean King: With 39 Grand Slam titles, 695 match victories and a career that lasted more than two decades, Billie Jean King’s name and the images first conjured are not of a tennis champion. Instead, King’s legacy is that of a trailblazer who used her fame on the court to smooth the pavement for the next generation of female athletes. She opened minds by beating Bobby Riggs in 1973 “Battle of the Sexes”, and she also opened doors by helping establish Women’s Sports Foundation in ‘74.
3. Sonja Henie: Sonja dominated figure skating with ten consecutive world championships and three Olympic gold medals. Whether on the ice or in the boardroom, the petite, blonde Norwegian figure skater, elevated figure skating from winter recreation to spectator sport, and was a cut throat competitor and a shrewd businesswoman who was out to win.
4. Nadia Comaneci: Nadia was the first gymnast to receive a perfect score in Olympic competition. Nobody was ready for the standards that would be set by 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci of Romania at the 1976 Olympics. No gymnast had achieved numerical perfection until Comaneci scored seven 10s in winning five medals, including three golds, that summer in Montreal.
5. Tracy Caulkins: Tracy, the most versatile swimmer ever, was the winner of three Olympic gold medals. When Caulkins qualified for the senior nationals at age 12, records began to fall. Caulkins won national titles in all four strokes — freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly — as well as the individual medley that combines all four. She set 63 American records and five world records and won 48 individual national titles.
6. Nancy Lopez: In 1969, at age 12, without benefit of a single lesson in golf, Lopez won the New Mexico Women’s Amateur. In 1978 she put together the most phenomenal season ever for an LPGA rookie, winning nine tournaments, including five in a row. She remains the only woman to be named rookie of the year and player of the year plus win the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average in one season. Her outgoing style and two decades of excellence helped to popularize golf.
7. Teresa Edwards: Teresa is the only four-time U.S. Olympian in her sport – basketball. Edwards made her name as an Olympian, leading the U.S. to three gold medals (1984, 1988, 1996) and one bronze (1992). She holds the U.S. Olympic records for games played, assists and steals; is second in points; and third in rebounds. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Edwards was picked to take the Olympic Oath at the opening ceremonies on behalf of all the athletes.
Apart from these fiery sports women, there are numerous other sports women who contributed tremendously to their respective sports. Some examples are – Martina Navratilova (tennis), Chris Evert (tennis), Olga Korbut (gymnastics), Florence Griffith Joyner (athletics), Steffi Graf (tennis), and Rosi Mittermaier (skiing).
Source: SportsIllustrated