Sports

The achievements and abilities of female athletes are often overlooked in comparison to the strengths of male athletes. Men are considered to be stronger, faster and more capable in their respective sports than their female counterparts, and we often hear more about athletes and achievements in the NBA than in the WNBA.

Female athletes are just as capable in their fields as are men, and their grit and determination to be successful often demonstrate an equal, or higher level, of strength and power than their male counterparts. Here are some female athletes that made “her-story” and established themselves as icons in the world of sports.

Serena Williams is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, across both men’s and women’s divisions. In her 27-year-long professional career, Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, meaning she won one of the four major tennis matches in a calendar year: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. She also won fourteen Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister, Venus Williams, and the two won three gold medals across the women’s doubles events at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Williams is the only tennis player to have won three of the four Grand Slam titles in a single year six times.

Alex Morgan is one of the most famous female soccer players in the world and found the spotlight after being selected first overall in the 2011 Women’s Professional Soccer draft. Her achievements on national and international teams paved the way for Morgan to help the U.S. Women’s National Team win gold at the 2012 London Olympic Games, as well as the FIFA World Cup in 2015 and 2019. Morgan and her teammates fought for gender equality in 2019 in a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, asking for equal pay; their requests were finally granted in February of 2022.