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20 Famous Women in Sports

Women in sports have repeatedly proven that gender is not an obstacle to greatness. Throughout history, these women in sports have shattered numerous world records and left a remarkable mark on the world of sports. Their exceptional talent, unwavering determination, and remarkable achievements have made them household names, not only in their respective countries but worldwide. 

These women in sports continue to inspire generations of athletes behind them. From the tennis superstar sisters Serena and Venus Williams to the soccer icon Mia Hamm, and the wrestling champion Ronda Rousey, these women have shattered glass ceilings and are continually raising the bar for excellence in Sports. In this article, we feature these and other women who continue leaving a mark in the world of sports.

1. Maria Sharapova

Maria is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2001 to 2020 and was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks.

She is one of ten women, and the only Russian, to achieve the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having won silver in women鈥檚 singles at the 2012 London Olympics. She has been considered one of the best competitors of her generation.

2. Serena Williams

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Serena Williams is an American retired professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association for 319 weeks, including a joint-record 186 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. She won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time.

Serena is the only player to accomplish a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. She won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award a record four times in 2003, 2010, 2016, and 2018, and in December 2015 was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time. Read more amazing facts about Serena Williams. 

3. Janet Evans

Janet is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder and won a total of four gold medals at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. 

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, she won three individual gold medals, and she also earned the nickname 鈥淢iss Perpetual Motion鈥�. In these Olympics, Evans set a new world record in the 400-meter freestyle event. This record stood for 18 years until France鈥檚 Laure Manaudou broke it in May 2006.

4. Hope Solo

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Hope is an American former football goalkeeper. She was a goalkeeper for the United States women鈥檚 national soccer team from 2000 to 2016 and is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Solo is regarded as one of the top female goalkeepers of all time and currently holds the U.S. record for most career clean sheets. She was the starting goalkeeper for the majority of the 2007 FIFA Women鈥檚 World Cup and helped lead the U.S. national team to the semifinals having given up only two goals in four games, including three consecutive shutouts.

5. Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer on the US Ski Team. She won four World Cup overall championships third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pr枚ll and Mikaela Shiffrin with three consecutive titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010, plus another in 2012.

Vonn won the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first one for an American woman. In 2016, she won her 20th World Cup crystal globe title, the overall record for men or women, surpassing Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who won 19 globes from 1975 to 1984. She has the third highest super ranking of all skiers, men or women.  Read more on 10 Greatest American Athletes of All Time. 

6. Ronda Rousey

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Ronda Rousey is an American professional wrestler, actress, former judoka, and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand and is the current WWE Women鈥檚 Tag Team Champion in her first reign with Shayna Baszler. She is also the eighth Women鈥檚 Triple Crown Champion.

Rousey is the only woman to be the champion in both the UFC and WWE as well as the only woman to headline a pay-per-view event in both companies. She was voted the best female athlete of all time in a 2015 ESPN fan poll, and Fox Sports described her as one of the defining athletes of the 21st century.

7. Michelle Kwan

Michelle Kwan has for the longest time maintained her status not only as America鈥檚 most popular figure skater but as one of America鈥檚 most popular female athletes. From 1997 to 2005, she was the U.S. Figure Skating Association鈥檚 top-paid skater in appearance fees and prize money, as well as one of the highest-paid Winter Olympic athletes in endorsements. Kwan was also the highest-paid skater on the Champions on Ice tours.

8. Annika S枚renstam

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Annika is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name.

After turning 50, she came back from her retirement and added a win in the 2021 U.S. Senior Women鈥檚 Open. In 2003, she achieved a career grand slam, winning, at least once in her career, each of the four tournaments recognized as major championships during the main part of her career. 

9. Shawna Robinson

Shawna is an American retired professional stock car racing driver. She was a competitor in all three of NASCAR鈥檚 national touring series, as well as the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series and the Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series. 

Robinson is one of 16 women to participate in the NASCAR Cup Series, and one of three females to race in the sport鈥檚 premier event, the Daytona 500. Read more on 20 of The Greatest NASCAR Drivers Of All Time. 

10. Danica Patrick

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Danica is an American former professional racing driver. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing, her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman in an IndyCar Series race.

Patrick began racing stock cars in 2010 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with her best result coming in the form of a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011. She placed a career-high tenth in the 2012 season standings and was the second woman to clinch a pole position in the Nationwide Series after Shawna Robinson in 1994.

11. Mary Lou Retton

Mary is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals.

Her performance made her one of the most popular athletes in the United States. Her gold medal win was historic as Retton was the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal in Olympic gymnastics.

12. Naomi Osaka

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Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champion, with two Australian Open and two US Open titles. 

At the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open, Osaka won her first two major titles in back-to-back tournaments. She was the first woman to win successive major singles titles since Serena Williams in 2015, and the first to win her first two in successive majors since Jennifer Capriati in 2001. She was also the highest-earning female athlete of all time by annual income in 2020. 

13. Mia St. John

Mia is an American professional boxer and former World Boxing Council champion in the super welterweight division. She is also the IBA and IFBA lightweight champion.

On June 12, 2005, after 47 professional bouts and 9 years, St. John was given a title bout with Liz Drew.

St. John won by unanimous decision, earning the International Female Boxers Association lightweight world title. She followed this win with a unanimous decision over Donna Biggers in August, winning the IBA continental lightweight title.

14. Babe Zaharias

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Zaharias was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball, and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships.

Didrikson gained world fame in track and field and All-American status in basketball. She played organized baseball and softball and was an expert diver, roller-skater, and bowler.

15. Billie Jean King

Billie is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women鈥檚 doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups.

For three years, she was the U.S. captain in the Federation Cup. Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was bestowed on her in 2010. Read more Unbelievable Facts About Billie Jean King. 

16. Yelena Isinbayeva

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Yelena is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World Champion, the world record holder in the event, and is widely considered the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time.

Isinbayeva was banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics after revelations of an extensive state-sponsored doping program in Russia, thus dashing her hopes of a grand retirement after winning the Olympic gold medal. She retired from athletics in August 2016 after being elected to serve an 8-year term on the IOC鈥檚 Athletes鈥� Commission.

17. Marta Vieira da Silva

Marta is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Orlando Pride in the National Women鈥檚 Soccer League and the Brazil national team. Marta is often regarded as the greatest female footballer of all time. 

Marta holds the record for being Brazil鈥檚 top international goalscorer of any gender, with 115 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in the FIFA World Cup tournament. Moreover, she was the first footballer of any gender to score at five World Cup editions, a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022, and also the first female footballer to score at five consecutive Olympic Games.

18. Mia Hamm

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Mia is a former American professional soccer player, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and a two-time FIFA Women鈥檚 World Cup champion. Hailed as a soccer icon, she was a forward for the United States women鈥檚 national soccer team from 1987 to 2004. A co-owner of Los Angeles FC, Hamm is also a global ambassador for FC Barcelona and is on the board of directors of Serie A club A.S. Roma.

Hamm was the face of the Women鈥檚 United Soccer Association, the first professional women鈥檚 soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003.

19. Venus Williams

Venus Williams is an American professional tennis player. Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats of the sport.

Williams trails only her sister Serena among active players with the most singles titles. With 22 WTA doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles, her combined total of 73 WTA titles is also second among active players behind Serena. She is also one of only two active players to have reached the singles finals of all four majors, along with Serena. Read more on 15 Most Famous Tennis Players You Should Know About. 

20. Florence Griffith

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Florence was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1980s, she became a popular figure due to both her record-setting athleticism and eclectic personal style.

Florence made her Olympic debut, winning a silver medal in the 200-meter distance at the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set a new world record in the 100-meter sprint. She went on to win three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics.

In conclusion, we have established that women have now chartered their own paths in the world of sports. From swimming champions to goalkeepers and even tennis stars, women are truly making their mark in the world of sports. This is also to set examples to the generations behind them who are looking to venture into the world of sports that indeed there is room for women. It s through great resilience and grit that significant results are achieved.