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- Interest and investment in women's sports have been on the rise.
- Stars like Simone Biles and Caitlin Clark are inspiring younger generations of female athletes.
- All eyes are on Katie Ledecky, one of the most dominant swimmers in history, at the 2024 Olympics.
All eyes are on some of the best athletes in history, including Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, as they head back to the Olympics in the hopes of adding to their already record-breaking medal counts.
But even before Olympians descended on Paris for the 2024 Games, interest in women's sports has been reaching unprecedented heights: Caitlin Clark drew record audiences to women's college basketball games before joining the WNBA, the Professional Women's Hockey League just finished its inaugural season, and the National Women's Soccer League is in its 12th season with plans to expand.
Recent breakthroughs in visibility, pay, and societal attitudes have helped usher female athletes and their organizations closer to the mainstream, with Deloitte predicting that women's sports will surpass $1 billion in revenue for the first time in 2024.
But what we're seeing now is the result of decades of hard work by pioneering women in sports who fought to foster inclusive environments for women regardless of their race, sexuality, or socioeconomic status.
From Althea Gibson breaking the color barrier in not just one but two sports to Megan Rapinoe leading the fight for pay equality, here are 45 legendary female athletes who've helped change the world of women's sports for the better, ushering in future generations of young girls who can see their futures clearer than ever before.
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Sprinter Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics. She overcame the loss of strength in her left leg and foot, caused by polio at 5 years old, to become the fastest woman in the world at the 1960 Olympics. She held the records for the 100 meters at 11.2 seconds and 200 meters at 22.9 seconds.
Because of worldwide television coverage throughout the 1960 Olympics, Rudolph gained international recognition and became an iconic figure for black and female athletes.
During the peak of the civil rights movement, Rudolph was a trailblazer for the rights of Black women. She broke the gender barrier of all-male events in track and field, and her legacy lives on today.
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Former World No. 1 professional tennis player Billie Jean King is regarded as one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time. She won 39 Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles.
King is an advocate for gender equality and social justice. She campaigned for equal pay when the Open Era began in 1968 and became the first female athlete to earn over $100,000 in prize money in 1971. Two years later, she beat tennis superstar Bobby Riggs in "The Battle of the Sexes" and helped found the Women's Tennis Association, both of which contributed to her legacy of making tennis among the most equitable professional sports on the planet.
Her fight for equity in sports has continued ever since. Today, King remains a primary advocate for women as the founder of the Women's Sports Foundation.
She's also a firm proponent of LGBTQ+ equality. In 1981, she was outed as having been in a long-term relationship with a woman. King and Ilana Kloss, her partner of 40+ years, got married in 2018.
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Lindsey Vonn won three consecutive titles at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup from 2008 to 2010 and another in 2012. She was also the first American woman to win a gold medal in the downhill, which she did at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Vonn won her 20th World Cup crystal globe title in 2016 to surpass Ingemar Stenmark for the overall record for men or women. She is also one of six women to win a World Cup race in all five disciplines of alpine skiing.
With three Olympic medals, four World Cup titles, 82 World Cup victories, and two World Championship gold medals to her name, Vonn is widely considered one of the greatest skiers of all time.
After missing parts of several seasons as a result of injuries, Vonn ultimately opted to retire from the sport in 2019.
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Aly Raisman is a two-time Olympic gymnast. In 2012, she won the team gold medal, floor gold medal, and bronze medal on balance beam with Team USA. She took home the individual all-around silver medal and floor silver medal in 2016, as well as another team gold medal to become the third-most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history.
As accomplished as she is in the gym, Raisman may be even better known for her work in the fight to end sexual abuse. She was among hundreds of gymnasts who came forward to speak out against former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
Since Nassar's trial, during which she delivered a blistering speech, she has used her platform to focus on fixing USA Gymnastics and fighting for justice for all victims of sexual abuse.
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Alex Morgan is a United States Women's Soccer Team legend who won her second consecutive FIFA World Cup championship in 2019. She made her World Cup debut in 2011, where the team won silver.
In 2012, Morgan recorded 28 goals and 21 assists to become the second American woman to score 20 goals and 20 assists in the same calendar year, alongside Mia Hamm. She was also the sixth and youngest US player to score 20 goals in a single year.
Morgan has accumulated more than 200 caps and 120 goals. She was also one of the first women's soccer players to appear on the cover of a FIFA video game.
Off the field, Morgan was crucial to the USWNT's successful fight for equal pay, which involved a lengthy lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation. She was also instrumental in the National Women's Soccer League's reckoning over pervasive emotional, mental, and sexual abuse.
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Nastia Liukin was a pivotal member of the US gymnastics team during three World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She won the 2008 Olympic all-around, as well as five Olympic medals, which tied the record for most medals won by an American gymnast in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games. Simone Biles later also tied the record.
A four-time all-around US national champion, Liukin's strongest events were the uneven bars and balance beam. She attempted a comeback in 2011 with hopes of making the 2012 Olympic team, but fell several times during the Olympic Trials and retired in 2012.
She is now a gymnastics analyst for NBC Sports and hosts an annual Nastia Liukin Cup to support the growth of gymnastics.
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Serena Williams is highly regarded as the best female tennis player of the Open Era. Her victories have shaped her into an inspirational figure in the sport.
Williams is tied for the third-most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles on the all-time list and is second in the Open Era. Her 23 Grand Slam singles titles is a record for the most tournament wins in the Open Era and just one shy of Margaret Court's all-time record.
She and her sister, fellow tennis legend Venus Williams, are considered pioneers of a new era for women in tennis that focuses on power. And throughout her career, she was often among the only women on the list of the world's highest-paid athletes, according to Forbes.
She announced her retirement from tennis in 2022, playing her final match in the third round of that year's US Open.
Off the court, Williams has been outspoken about the state of Black maternal healthcare, sharing her own near-death experience after giving birth to her first daughter in 2017.
She's also been building her portfolio in venture capital; in an email to Business Insider in 2023, Williams wrote, "Coming from a sports background and a sport that was an individual one, I've developed a habit of trusting my gut. So when it came to venture and founders, it wasn't hard to apply it. I also know what it looks like to be incredibly talented and not given the exposure because of the color of your skin. It's another reason I love investing — to close that gap."
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Danica Patrick is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing. She accomplished multiple firsts for women in the sport, including being the first woman to win an IndyCar Series race at the 2008 Indy Japan 300.
Patrick also had the highest finish by a woman in the Indianapolis 500 (third) and Daytona 500 (eighth). She did not endure as much success as many expected, but she had an undeniable impact on the sport.
In a predominately male industry, Patrick is often credited for inspiring more women to take part in auto racing and motorsports.
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Ronda Rousey is a retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. She is considered to be one of the greatest female athletes ever as the only woman to win both a UFC and WWE championship. She is also one of the only women to headline a pay-per-view event.
At the 2008 Olympics, Rousey won a bronze medal in judo, becoming the first American woman ever to do so. She took part in the first UFC women's fight, successfully defending her title against Liza Carmouche.
Rousey was the first female fighter to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018. That same year, she signed a contract with WWE and began professional wrestling.
Outside the ring, Rousey has written an autobiography and starred in several films, including "Furious 7" and "Mile 22."
She left the WWE in 2023.
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Maria Sharapova is a professional tennis player and the only Russian to have a career Grand Slam. When she was 18 years old, Sharapova was ranked world No. 1 and was the first female from Russia to do so.
Sharapova accumulated 36 singles titles and five Grand Slam titles. She is considered one of the best tennis players to play the game.
She has also been involved in various humanitarian endeavors, including being a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador focused on the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme. She also launched a program in 2018 to mentor women entrepreneurs.
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American swimmer Katie Ledecky has won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, both of which are records among female swimmer. She currently holds the world record in women's 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle short- and long-course races.
Ledecky made her international debut at the 2012 London Olympics at 15 years old and surprised everyone when she won the gold medal in women's 800-meter freestyle, becoming the youngest ever to win.
Four years later, she became the most decorated female athlete of the 2016 Olympics with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. In 2020, she added two more golds and two silvers at the Tokyo Olympics.
She is now at the 2024 Paris Olympics, hoping to add four more medals to her count.
She has broken more than a dozen world records throughout her career and is widely considered one of the most dominant swimmers alive.
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American gymnast Simone Biles won the individual all-around, vault, and floor gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She is a five-time World all-around champion, with three consecutive victories from 2013-15 and two more in 2018 and 2019.
Biles is the most decorated American gymnast with seven Olympic and 25 World Championship medals. She set the US record for most gold medals in women's gymnastics at a single Olympics with four.
Dominant on nearly every event, Biles is considered to be one of the greatest gymnasts of all-time. She famously struggled with "the twisties" — a phenomenon that throws off a gymnast's balance — during the Tokyo Olympics and catalyzed a larger conversation around self-advocacy and mental health in athletics.
She is now competing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, her third Olympics.
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At just 17 years old, Missy Franklin became the first American woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics in any sport during the 2012 London Olympics. She quickly captivated America's attention and went on to win six gold medals at the 2013 World Aquatics Championship.
Frankly previously held the record at the World Aquatics Championships with 11 gold medals, but Katie Ledecky broke it in 2017 with 14.
If not for chronic pain cutting Franklin's career short, many believed she would go on to dominate women's swimming the way Michael Phelps dominated men's. In December 2018, Franklin announced her retirement due to shoulder issues, but she will always be remembered as one of the greats in women's swimming.
