Famous Female Athletes

Women in the past and present have always proved that they can stand equal to men and challenge their capabilities and roles. They have time and again proved that they are not just about preparing meals, housekeeping and raising children! The world has seen women proving their worth in fields like science and technology, history and art, defense services and sports which need utter strength. Do you know, why talking about women in sports is so extraordinary? Because, women were never associated to the world of physical strength, endurance and perseverance. In this article, you will read about a few of those famous female athletes and sportswomen who broke social barriers to show the world what the real woman of substance is! Therefore, I very proudly present to you, a list of these famous women athletes, take a look.

List of Famous Female Athletes and Sportswomen

As I said earlier, the world of sports is full of physical strength, long hours of practice, strict diets, extreme perseverance and giving the best performance for the team you are representing. Women are never spared from their daily duties of household, even if they would like to indulge themselves in hobbies like sports. But there have been some "extraordinary" women, who have not only changed this point of view permanently, but made significant contributions to their nations glory in various sports. Without any further delay, I am going to reveal to you the names of these famous female athletes and sportswomen in history and today.

Ann Meyers
Ann Meyers Drysdale was born on March 26 in 1955 is known to be the first woman basketball player who signed a contract with the NBA team, Indiana Pacers. This lady, one of the famous female athletes in history, played for her high school, then for her college and later went on to play for the Olympic games before she took up basketball professionally. As one of the famous women basketball players she is known to have represented the national team of United States of America, while she was in high school.

Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King, known to be one of the best professional tennis players of the US was born November 22 in 1943. She is truly a wonder, as she has 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her credit. She always played as a woman and fought against the discrimination against women in sports and society. She proved this, when she defeated Bobby Riggs, also a Wimbledon men's singles champion in 1973.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Born on the June 26th 1911 and died on September 27 of 1956, Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was the greatest American sports ever saw. She was an athlete who played for the US and achieved success in other sports such as golf, track and field and basketball. Babe also has two gold medals and one silver for track and field events at the 1932 Olympics held in Los Angeles.

Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova was born on 18 October, 1956 and is a former World champion and Tennis player from Czechoslovakia. She has 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (known to be an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her credit. One of the world famous women, she won 20 Wimbledon titles, the only woman player to share it with Billie Jean King. She set another world record of winning 79 titles with her doubles' partner, Pam Shriver, with whom she also won 109 consecutive matches and lead to victory of all four Grand Slam titles in 1984.

Nadia Comaneci
A gymnast from Romania, Nadia Elena Comãneci was born on November 12, 1961. She won 3 gold medals in the Summer Olympics of 1976 and shot to fame with her perfection, when she became the first ever gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10, during the event. She took 2 other gold medals in the Summer Olympics of 1980 and is known to be one of the best gymnasts in the world even today.

Mia Hamm
She is best known as Mia Hamm but was born as Mariel Margaret Hamm, born on 17th 1972. She was the best soccer player of her time to represent the US women's national soccer team, where she played as the forward. With 158 goals, she is also known to score the highest number of goals in her career, than any other player in American soccer.

Peggy Gale Fleming
If you want to know what true grace is, watch Peggy Gail Fleming on the ice. She was born on July 27, 1948 and is the best figure skater in American history till date. She won the ladies' singles in 1968 Olympics and won the World Championship for 3 consecutive years. None till today are compared to her on the ice, as she is said to have her own control and charm while skating.

Wilma Glodean Rudolf
Known to be the best and fastest woman in the world, Wilma Glodean Rudolph lived from June 23, 1940 to November 12, 1994. She was the first woman from America to win 3 gold medals in track and field in the 1960 Olympics and became the role model of many aspiring women athletes all across the world. As one of the famous black women she was called, "The Tornado, the Black Gazelle and The Black Pearl". She was a true inspiration, first for black women in sports and then to all the others.

Along with these few famous female athletes and sportswomen in history, there some more honorable mentions, which I can't miss. These women excelled and are still the best in their sports, putting a complex before many male sports personalities. These great women were and are;

    * Susan Butcher (26 December, 1954 – 5 August, 2006) - American dog musher
    * Chris Evert (21 December, 1954) – Tennis player and winner of 18 Gran Slam singles
    * Serena Williams (26 September, 1981) – World Tennis Professional and winner of 27 Grand Slam titles; 13 in singles, 12 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles.
    * Angela Ruggiero (3 January, 1980) – Defenseman in Ice hockey and plays for America
    * Gabrielle Reece (6 January, 1970) – One of the famous female athletes today, she is a professional volleyball player from America.
    * Danica Patrick (25 March, 1982) – Auto racing driver from America

With these great mentions of some of the most famous female athletes and sportswomen, I am sure you are in no doubt about what women are about! So, hope you enjoyed reading about all these wonder women from the past and present. Well, we hope to see more of these in the future!

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