Why Did We Start Having the Olympics Again
The face up of sports continues to change every day thank you to successful, strong women dominating everything from tennis to soccer to horse racing. Legends similar Billie Jean King, Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe — and allow's non forget newcomers like Naomi Osaka — have crushed records and made history in what's long been a male person-dominated industry.
These influential and victorious women have redefined what it ways to be athletes — and part models. In celebration of Women's History Calendar month and of people whose accomplishments and barrier-breaking skills deserve recognition and admiration, check out the stories of game-irresolute women in sports who have inspired the globe.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Rails and field, basketball game, golf? Infant Didrikson Zaharias competed and excelled in all three. The multi-sport athlete won two golden medals in track and field and ten Ladies Professional Golf Clan (LPGA) major championships. And speaking of the LPGA, Zaharias was one of the founders of the organization.
The legendary athlete was a pioneer in women'due south golf, becoming the first woman to play in an all-male Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tournament. With the longest winning streak in golf history, she won 14 golf tournaments in a row from 1946 to 1947. Zaharias is frequently labeled one of the greatest athletes of all fourth dimension.
Ever wonder what it'south like to vanquish your babyhood idol? For tennis player Naomi Osaka, it wasn't exactly what she was expecting. Osaka defeated Serena Williams in the 2018 Chiliad Slam final, but at the trophy anniversary, the crowd booed her for winning. She went on to beat Williams once more at the 2021 Australian Open up tournament to enough of fanfare.
Despite the initial public outcry, Osaka continues to conquer the tennis world equally a powerful athlete who's known for non backing downwardly. She became the outset Japanese player to concur summit rankings in professional person tennis. Time magazine listed Osaka as one of the nigh influential people in the world in 2019, and she continues to use her platform to advocate for racial and social justice.
Ibtihaj Muhammad
Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad made history every bit the first American athlete to wearable a hijab while competing in the Olympics. The stiff, fast fencer finished with a medal, condign the beginning Muslim-American woman to practice and so at the Olympics.
Muhammad stays true to her faith and also breaks some cultural norms, working to inspire Muslim-American teens to become athletes and compete in the Olympics by sharing a story that focuses on the importance of inclusiveness and representation. In her pursuit of that representation, she inspired Mattel to create the first hijabi Barbie doll — who'south also a fencer modeled after Muhammad.
Ester Ledecká
Ester Ledecká was told she had to cull between skiing and snowboarding because her coaches assumed she couldn't succeed in both sports. In a stellar sit-in of just how incorrect their assumption was, Ledecká stunned the world by winning ii gold medals in alpine skiing and snowboarding at the 2018 Wintertime Olympics.
Thankfully, Ledecká didn't listen to the doubters, achieving what she knew was possible and becoming a champion in the procedure. The historic win inspired many skiers and snowboarders to believe there could be more than i path to success. Coaches everywhere also (hopefully) learned a lesson about empowering their athletes by offering support.
Simone Biles
There's no doubt Simone Biles is one of the greatest gymnasts of all time — people frequently refer to her as such — and she owns it. Every year, she keeps on winning. In 2019, she earned her 25th Earth Title gold medal, breaking records and making gymnastics history.
Biles is one of the about decorated gymnasts in the world, having earned 30 Olympics and Globe Championship medals over the grade of her career thanks to her skills that are so skilful they're nigh otherworldly. In honor of Biles' achievements, ii gymnastics moves were named after her. She also has another major achievement — she inspired immature gymnasts and athletes around the world to prioritize their mental health when she withdrew from five out of her six team finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Nancy Lopez
Nancy Marie Lopez has an impressive resume as a retired professional golfer. In 1977, she became a member of the LPGA Tour, and she proceeded to gear up the golfing world on fire from that point on. Her confidence, force and drive to win information technology all mesmerized fans.
The Hispanic athlete won 48 LPGA Tour events, including iii major championships, and Lopez has earned many other highly respected titles, such every bit LPGA Tour Player of the Yr and GWAA Female Player of the Year. Swain golfers and fans widely regard her every bit one of the cardinal reasons the LPGA boomed.
Serena Williams
Getting to the tiptop isn't like shooting fish in a barrel in any field, and tennis champion Serena Williams has certainly experienced plenty of detest throughout her career. On the courtroom, crowds have booed and yelled racial slurs at her, only despite the negativity, double standards and abuse, Williams served her way to the meridian with multiple Grand Slam tournament wins.
In the current era of professional person tennis, Williams has won 23 major singles titles — more than any homo or woman. The Women's Lawn tennis Association ranked her No. ane in the world eight times. The legend continues to knock downwards the competition and inspire diversity in tennis while furthering her career every bit perhaps the best athlete the world has ever known. The biopic, Male monarch Richard (2021), also paid tribute to Serena, her sis Venus, and their male parent Richard Williams.
Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal is a badminton champ from India. A genu injury at the 2016 Rio Olympics virtually ended her career, merely she refused to quit. Following multiple surgeries, Nehwal returned with a vengeance and won a medal at the 2017 World Championship.
Previously a Earth No. 1 ranked player, Nehwal has nabbed more than than several dozen international titles. She'southward also the offset Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal. Many fans regard her equally ane of the virtually successful Indian athletes of all time and thanks to Nehwal, badminton has grown more than popular in Bharat. Nehwal as well hitting the ground running at the 2022 All England Open.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Sports Illustrated crowned Jackie Joyner-Kersee the "Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century," and it's no hole-and-corner why. The highly decorated female athlete is a six-fourth dimension Olympic medalist with three golds, one silver and ii bronzes who dominated the heptathlon and long-jump competitions.
Although Joyner-Kersee is a retired athlete, she however reigns supreme in the heptathlon world. The fable holds the Globe Heptathlon record with an extraordinary 7,291 points. In that location's no question that her achievements inspire young female athletes in sports to become champions.
Megan Rapinoe
World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe is a U.S. professional soccer player and the helm of Reign FC in the National Women's Soccer League. In 2019, she was named All-time FIFA Women'due south Player and delivered a thought-provoking spoken communication on dreaming big.
These days, Rapinoe is no stranger to the spotlight, having become equally famous for both her incredible soccer skills and her unwavering activism. The soccer star is leading the team's fight for equal pay – having won a $24 million equal pay dispute with U.Due south. Soccer Federation – and she too uses her platform to speak out against racism and champion LGBTQ+ rights.
Billie Jean King
In the late 1960s, Billie Jean Rex helped women's professional tennis explode. The retired U.S. lawn tennis role player is a former World No. 1 ranked player, winning 39 major titles in her career spent competing in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
With many achievements to her name, King is oft called one of the greatest tennis players of all time. In other words, she'southward a legitimate legend. She made history as the commencement female athlete to win more than than $100,000 in one flavour. Rex is likewise the founder of the Women'south Tennis Clan and the Women's Sports Foundation.
Fu Yuanhui
Chinese professional swimmer Fu Yuanhui broke the internet during the 2016 Rio Olympics. The mega-viral swimmer won third place in the finals of the 100-meter backstroke, but her existent prize was winning something fifty-fifty better: the world's centre.
Fans admired her excited reaction and energy after nabbing the bronze medal. She taught the globe an important lesson on honoring achievements — no matter how large or small. "Even though I didn't win first place today, I've already surpassed myself, and I am happy with that," Yuanhui told reporters with a big smile.
Julie Krone
In 1993, Julie Krone rode her way into history on the dorsum of a equus caballus. She became the first woman jockey to win a Triple Crown Race — the Belmont Stakes — and she'southward withal the only one to practise so. She'south also the first woman inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
The retired American athlete continues to inspire girls to become jockeys. In fact, she opened the Julie Krone Junior Jockey Military camp in 2019 to share her passion and expertise. Krone also now works equally a motivational speaker, spreading her message of empowerment to girls across the land.
Dubbed the Knuckle Princess, Eri Yoshida is a professional baseball player from Japan. After watching Major League Baseball game pitcher Tim Wakefield on goggle box, she was inspired to learn how to throw a knuckleball — and at age 14, she perfected the pitch by teaching herself.
By age sixteen, she'd become the outset woman drafted by a Japanese men'southward professional person baseball squad. Eventually, she went on to play in several men'due south professional baseball game leagues in the U.S. She likewise had the opportunity to pitch in games in Canada and railroad train with her baseball game idol, Tim Wakefield, at the Boston Scarlet Sox minor league training facility in 2010.
Cammi Granato
Cammi Granato is a retired American ice hockey histrion who fiercely brought power to the sport. As the captain of the gilded medal-winning team in 1998, Granato secured her spot every bit a legendary and influential athlete, leading the U.South. women's hockey team to the elevation of the Olympics and inspiring a whole new generation of girls to sign up for the sport.
In 2008, the hockey superstar was inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame, an result that was followed by her consecration into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009. Although she no longer plays hockey, her legacy as a powerhouse athlete is sure to endure.
Source: https://www.ask.com/culture/game-changing-women-sports-worldwide?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740004%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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