OT: ESPNW naming Top 40 Female Athletes of the last 40 Years

[CamrnCrz1974]

Without a doubt, Cheryl Miller has to be on the list, same with DT, Sue, Maya, and Rebecca.

In basketball, you have to include, as possible candidates (not finalists, just candidates), Cheryl Miller, Ann Donovan, Diana Taurasi, Chamique Holdsclaw, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, and Teresa Edwards, to name just a few, over Sue Bird, Maya Moore, and Rebecca Lobo.

In tennis, you have to include Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Serena Williams on the final list. Cannot imagine any list without those four.

In track and field, you have to include Jackie Joyner-Kersee. If she does not make the list, something is wrong.

In swimming, you have to consider Jenny Thompson, Janet Evans, Mary T. Meagher, Nancy Hogshead, etc.

In figure skating, you have to include Katarina Witt and Michelle Kawn. I do not think Dorothy Hamill makes it. Sure, she has a the Hamill Camel, but Denise Biellman has "The Biellman Spin." Witt has two Olympic Gold Medals; Kwan has five world titles, eight U.S. titles, and two Olympic medals.

As for soccer...Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Kristine Lilly, to name a few.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

It seemsto me that it is great to honor a list of great female athletes but if the honor is tied to Title IX, it gives it an American slant. Title IX had no effect on athletes from other countries unless they competed here in America since its passage.

To be more specific, the first honoree was a Chinese diver, surely a great athlete but by no means a beneficiary of Title IX back home.

Similarly, professional athletes (e.g., Anika Sorenstam, Martina Navratilona, Greta Waitz) were unaffected by Title IX. They were just terrific on their own.

The list is the best female athletes over the last 40 years, which is being done because 40 years has passed since Title IX. There is no honor being tied to Title IX, nor is ESPN advertising it as such. It is just an anniversary of an event being used to consider the best female athletes of the last 40 years. Nowhere did ESPN ever bill this as athletes being impacted by Title IX.

 

[semper]

In my view the WBallers will be DT and LL. I would put Birdie as no. 3. She is amazing, and has battled lots of injuries too.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

In my view the WBallers will be DT and LL. I would put Birdie as no. 3. She is amazing, and has battled lots of injuries too.

No disrespect intended, but Sue Bird is not close to Sheryl Swoopes or Cynthia Cooper, in terms of career accomplishments.

 

[OHusky]

Joan Joyce mention above. went to a FL Atlantic softball game and guess who is their coach - yes Joan Joyce. She is very approachable and personable. Too bad her team isn't better. Her Dad was in attendance at the game. He was in a wheel chair but considering he's probably 95 years old or so, he seemed OK. Not sure but she may also be the womens golf team coach at FAU. Joan Joyce is one of the greatest atheletes ever. Certainly top ten in my book.

 

[bschwartz]

DT is between #38 and #30 (they already revealed two)

Press release has numbers 40-30 in alphabetical order. DT is in this group which IMHO is total BS

* Joan Benoit (track) - first women's Olympic marathon champion​

* Cammi Granato (ice hockey) - 1998 Olympic Gold Medalist / 2002 Olympic Silver Medalist​

* Flo Hyman (volleyball) - USA Volleyball MVP 1978 - 2002; 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist​

* Julie Krone (horse racing) - first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race​

* Kristine Lilly (soccer) - three-time Olympian with two gold medals (1996, 2004)​

* Mary T. Meagher (swimming) - two gold medals in 1984 Olympics​

* Mingxia (diving) - quadruple Olympic-diving champion and world champion​

* Mary Lou Retton (gymnastics) - won the Olympic all-around title (1984), scoring perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault​

* Diana Taurasi (basketball) - Three-time collegiate national and two-time WNBA champion​

* Abby Wambach (soccer) - 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist; three-time All-American​

 

[Icebear]

Joan Joyce mention above. went to a FL Atlantic softball game and guess who is their coach - yes Joan Joyce. She is very approachable and personable. Too bad her team isn't better. Her Dad was in attendance at the game. He was in a wheel chair but considering he's probably 95 years old or so, he seemed OK. Not sure but she may also be the womens golf team coach at FAU. Joan Joyce is one of the greatest atheletes ever. Certainly top ten in my book.

She is both the softball and golf coach. In 18 seasons she has never had a losing softball team and has record 700+ wins.

 

[easttexastrash]

DT is between #38 and #30 (they already revealed two)

Press release has numbers 40-30 in alphabetical order. DT is in this group which IMHO is total BS

* Joan Benoit (track) - first women's Olympic marathon champion​

* Cammi Granato (ice hockey) - 1998 Olympic Gold Medalist / 2002 Olympic Silver Medalist​

* Flo Hyman (volleyball) - USA Volleyball MVP 1978 - 2002; 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist​

* Julie Krone (horse racing) - first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race​

* Kristine Lilly (soccer) - three-time Olympian with two gold medals (1996, 2004)​

* Mary T. Meagher (swimming) - two gold medals in 1984 Olympics​

* Mingxia (diving) - quadruple Olympic-diving champion and world champion​

* Mary Lou Retton (gymnastics) - won the Olympic all-around title (1984), scoring perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault​

* Diana Taurasi (basketball) - Three-time collegiate national and two-time WNBA champion​

* Abby Wambach (soccer) - 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist; three-time All-American​

Glad to see Flo Hyman on the list.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

DT is between #38 and #30 (they already revealed two)

Press release has numbers 40-30 in alphabetical order. DT is in this group which IMHO is total BS

What makes you say that?

 

[MilfordHusky]

Geez, Joanie didn't make the top 30. She is an icon.

 

[Jason76]

Billie Jean King? Battle of the Sexes was 1973 and it was a huge moment in womens' sports.

I say no to FloJo as her records are still mired in controversy.

Allow me some indulgence but I'd consider Roller Derby Queen Joanie Weston somewhere in the Top 100. Okay, no one knows her and no one considers Derby a sport but she was an athlete of sorts and at a time when no one was paying to see women in sports, Weston was selling out arenas from the Oakland Coliseum to Madison Square Garden to see her epic match races against the villanous Ann Calvello. In 1970, none other than Frank DeFord called her the most famous woman athlete in America in SI. When she died, he called her "Jordanesque, Ruthian" and noted that if she played an uptown sport, she would have been mentioned in the same company as the likes of Didrickson.

Weston, yes, The Fabulous Moolah, no.

 

[huskyblooz]

Danica Patrick ... I know ... it's not a sport.

 

[easttexastrash]

Danica Patrick ... I know ... it's not a sport.

She and Madeleine Albright were tied for 41st.

 

[bschwartz]

What makes you say that?

What bball players are you going to put ahead of DT? Miller, Swopes, Leslie, Leiberman? Not many. Perhaps you have to be totally politically correct to be high up on the list. I'd argue basketball is the most popular woman's sport save for maybe one or two Olympic sports. Bball players should dominate this list. And if they are going to dominate this list, DT should have a lot lower number than 30 IMHO.

 

[Bestiarius]

I think Jackie Joyner-Kersee will get the number 1 spot. Going back further than 40 years, it would be hard not to pick Babe Didrikson Zaharias for the sheer number of sports she excelled in. Everyone else pales in comparison.

 

[sarals24]

Might be more slanted towards individualized sports, as it's easier to measure success sometimes.

 

[Jackalope]

I am surprised no one has mentioned Bonnie Blair.

 

[JS]

I'd argue basketball is the most popular woman's sport save for maybe one or two Olympic sports.

I don't think the criteria for what is "top" or "best" are clear, or can be in this type of overall summary.

To the extent it's popularity (seizing the public's attention), Olympics gets an enormous market share for a couple of weeks every four years (two, counting Winter), and the attention is importantly spurred by patriotic impulses. The sports that are mainly Olympic, from a U.S. point of view, struggle to be seen the rest of the time.

To the extent it's pure athletic ability, I don't think you can really choose between purely Olympic sports and the team sports that toil day in and day out. Apples and oranges. Yes, basketball puts together an all-star team for the Olympics, the best of the best, who patch together some teamwork for a few weeks. But to play full seasons requires qualities of stamina, maintenance of an edge over time and deeper teamwork that the Olympics doesn't.

On pure athletics, hard to argue with the decathathelete champions as best overall, but still they're surpassed by specialists in each of their separate endeavors.

I've always thought basketball requires the most impressive total array of athletic abilities (running, jumping, throwing, strength, body control, situational perception (geometry and speed) and quick physical implementation of quick decisions of any sport. That's one reason I'm a fan.

 

[Icebear]

I think Jackie Joyner-Kersee will get the number 1 spot. Going back further than 40 years, it would be hard not to pick Babe Didrikson Zaharias for the sheer number of sports she excelled in. Everyone else pales in comparison.

Actually, Joan Joyce's and Babe's lists of sports are quite similar. I definitely give the edge to Babe who is one of my personal favorites all time but Joyce's list of sports she excelled at included, basketball, softball, volleyball, golf, bowling, billiards. Check the Joyce articles and Didricksen's history and the parallels are amazing. Both were simply outstanding athletes.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

What bball players are you going to put ahead of DT? Miller, Swopes, Leslie, Leiberman? Not many. Perhaps you have to be totally politically correct to be high up on the list. I'd argue basketball is the most popular woman's sport save for maybe one or two Olympic sports. Bball players should dominate this list. And if they are going to dominate this list, DT should have a lot lower number than 30 IMHO.

Basketball is NOT the most popular women's sport.

Figure skating is the crown jewel of the Winter Olympics. The women's figure skating competition is the most exclusive event of the Games (men's and women's events).

As for the Summer Olympics, track and field events are the crown jewels. You also have gymnastics and swimming.

As for other women's sports in general, tennis has a much bigger international following than basketball.

You have to look at 40 years. You have to look at athletes who changed the game or whose accomplishments made them internationally renowned. While I think Taurasi is one of the ten greatest female basketball players of all time (not just the last forty years), there are a few ahead of her at this point in her career (Cheryl Miller, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, not to mention Teresa Edwards and her five Olympic gold medals).

Then you have to factor in the other sports and their greatest athletes. As an example...tennis. Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams will be ranked ahead of Taurasi. And that is just one sport. Then you add in all-time greats in individuals sports (e.g., Bonnie Blair in speed skating, Nadia Comenici in gymnastics, etc.). And then there are the swimmers (Jenny Thompson, Mary T. Meagher, Janet Evans, Nancy Hogshead, etc.) who are candidates for this list.

This is an international honor spanning all spots over a period of 40 years. I would say Taurasi's accomplishments are pretty incredible to be included on this list; it is quite an honor for her. And without knowing her exact placement (could be #39; could be #30), I would still say the range is probably correct at this point in her career.

 

[MarieM]

how many ball players will be on the list .. i say about 11​

 

[Scotter]

If golf is a sport, racing is a sport.

Danica Patrick ... I know ... it's not a sport.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

how many ball players will be on the list .. i say about 11​

I would be shocked if it were that many.

 

[easttexastrash]

I think Jackie Joyner-Kersee will get the number 1 spot. Going back further than 40 years, it would be hard not to pick Babe Didrikson Zaharias for the sheer number of sports she excelled in. Everyone else pales in comparison.

Plus, she was a Texan.

 

[alexrgct]

Ranking across sports is entertaining enough but ultimately silly. Always interesting to see within a given sport how people are ranked. For instance, how do you rank Serena, Steffi, Chrissy, Martina, and BJK (all of whom are probably on the list)?