Top female athletes of all time
Title IX gave women more opportunities in higher education and, most notably, high school and collegiate athletics. As the 40th anniversary of the legislation's passing approaches on June 23, take a look at the top female athletes of all time.
Title IX gave women more opportunities in higher education and, most notably, high school and collegiate athletics.
Title IX gave women more opportunities in higher education and, most notably, high school and collegiate athletics.
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 states:
"No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid."
As the 40th anniversary of the legislation's passing approaches on June 23, take a look at the top female athletes of all time, as ranked by ESPNW.com.
12. Florence Griffith - Joyner. She was stylish, graceful and faster than any woman in history, before or since. In the summer of 1988, Florence Griffith-Joyner set a pair of world records -- first in the 100 meters (10.49 seconds), then in the 200 meters (21.34) -- that many people believe will never be broken. She won three Olympic gold medals at the Seoul Games,
11. Billie Jean King. King played thousands of matches over her career, and won a vast majority of them, including six Wimbledon and four U.S. Open singles titles and 29 Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles titles. She spent five years at No. 1, battling the likes of Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Margaret Court.
10. Serena Williams. Williams who became the first of two famous tennis star siblings to claim a Grand Slam singles title when she won the 1999 U.S. Open at age 17. In 2002, she embarked on a Slam streak, winning the French Open, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the 2003 Australian Open.
9. Steffi Graf. Graf entered her first tournament at age 5. She would eventually blossom into one of the all-time greats, winning 22 Grand Slam singles titles with the help of a monster forehand and immaculate footwork.
8. Nadia Comaneci. After winning big at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, Romanian gymnast won gold in the balance beam at the 1978 world championships and in the team competition at the 1979 event, while also hauling in five golds from 1977 to '79 at the European championships. At the Olympics in 1980, she earned two golds and two silvers.
7. Chris Evert. Evert won her first major championship at the French Open in 1974 and her last at Roland Garros in 1986. During that period, she captured at least one Grand Slam title a year (including a record seven French Opens), for a total of 18 in her career.
6. Bonnie Blair. With five career gold medals at the Winter Olympics -- the most ever for an American woman -- Blair did nothing short of revolutionize speedskating in the U.S., paving the way for women.
5. Lisa Leslie. The 6-foot-5 basketball superstar center led Team USA to Olympic gold in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008, as well as to world championships in 1998 and 2002. When she walked away in 2009, the WNBA, which she was instrumental in building, had become a mainstay for women's basketball.
4. Annika Sorenstam. Sorenstam was the first woman to shoot a 59 at a tournament, in 2001. She was player of the year a record eight times. She led Europe to Solheim victories over the United States in 2000 and 2003. She is the LPGA's all-time money winner with nearly $22.6 million in earnings. And in 2003, she was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
3. Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Joyner-Kersee is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, having won the heptathlon and long jump in 1988 and the heptathlon again in 1992. She also won four world championships and repeatedly set world records in the latter event. In fact, Joyner-Kersee holds the top six scores in heptathlon history.
2. Martina Navratilova. Billie Jean King calls Navratilova "the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived." In 30-plus years of professional tennis, Navratilova amassed more singles titles (167) and doubles titles (177) than any woman or man in the Open Era.
1. Mia Hamm. The best women's soccer player in history came into the world the same year as Title IX, and her career is a shining example of the law's lasting benefits: the power bestowed on young girls when they're given a chance.
Part of the first golden generation of U.S. players, Hamm appeared in the first four Women's World Cups, winning two of them -- including the mythic 1999 tourney on home soil. She also reaped gold in the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics.
To read more about Title IX and to get the rest of the list of top female athletes, go to http://espn.go.com/espnw/title-ix/top-40-female-athletes.
