SI Title IX Top 40

[vtcwbuff]

Down to the wire . . . .

#5 Lisa Leslie
#4. Annika Sorenstam
#3 Jackie Joyner Kersee
#2 Martina Navratilova

#1 ??????

 

[easttexastrash]

I'm not sure where to find the link to the list. When I Google this I see Jackie Joyner-Kersee as number 1. I must be looking at the wrong link?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mu...1205/title-ix-top-40-athletes/content.40.html

How could any female be considered a greater athlete than JJ-K?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I'm not sure where to find the link to the list. When I Google this I see Jackie Joyner-Kersee as number 1. I must be looking at the wrong link?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mu...1205/title-ix-top-40-athletes/content.40.html

How could any female be considered a greater athlete than JJ-K?

The OP's list is the ESPN list. Different criteria.

 

[VAMike23]

On the OP's list [ESPN], with the No. 1 slot still vacant, it's gotta be.....

.....Mia Hamm.

 

[Olde Coach]

On the OP's list [ESPN], with the No. 1 slot still vacant, it's gotta be.....

.....Mia Hamm.

FWIW --- Mia Hamm was born in 1972 -- the year Title IX was passed by the congress. Thus -- she makes a good candidate to be the "poster girl" for the success of TitleIX.

 

[vtcwbuff]

My apologies for mislabeling the list as SI. It is indeed the ESPN-W list. Hamm is not on the list so it's a safe bet she's #1.

 

[Wonkster]

... Hamm is not on the list so it's a safe bet she's #1.

Yeah, but I'm not on the list so far, either. Where does thst leave your logic?

 

[rwdinsalem]

How were Annika and Martina affected by Title IX?

 

[vtcwbuff]

Hamm was voted the #1 female athlete of the last 40 years.

The list was not intended to identify athletes that had benefitted from the passage of Title IX.

From the intro to the list -
"And as ESPN marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX -- a law whose ripple effects extend far beyond the U.S., creating a women's sports culture awash in opportunity -- it's the perfect time to pause, reflect and ask one question: Who's the best of the best?"

 

[easttexastrash]

IMO, Hamm is a poster girl for Title IX, but JJ-K was the greatest female athlete of the past 40 years. But my definition is based on pure athleticism. I just can't see how any other athlete surpasses her.

For Marion Jones to make any list is ridiculous. Who will ever truly know what she would have accomplished without PEDs.

 

[cookie447]

What, no Sue Bird?

 

[trb123]

Taurasi - 35
Holdsclaw - 26

How did they do the rankings?
Must have been discussed here.
Still if somebody has an explanation, I would like to read it.

 

[alexrgct]

Thought Steffi was slightly underrated. She was definitely better than Chrissy and conceivably better than Martina...unless you care about doubles, which no one does.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Other than a short thread when the list first appeared there wasn't much discussion here. Probably because most posters recognize the subjectivity of such lists.

I think the mechanics of the selection process is outlined on the ESPN-W site.

 

[wire chief]

Thought Steffi was slightly underrated. She was definitely better than Chrissy and conceivably better than Martina...unless you care about doubles, which no one does.

There was much caring when Venus & Serena did doubles.

 

[ThisJustIn]

I care about doubles -- it's a huge flaw in the marketing of the game that people seem NOT to. Singles is HARD, doubles is FUN -- you want citizens to play, you want to push doubles.

Martina is, hands down, the best tennis player ever -- singles, doubles, mixed? She ruled. Perhaps the amount of tennis she played impacted her overall numbers negatively, but I have no doubt that her net game and her overall fitness was impacted positively.

As for Holdsclaw above Diana? A farce. Cheryl is overrated. And Teresa Edwards should be way up there....

 

[alexrgct]

Certainly, the position that Martina was the GOAT is widely held and an absolutely reasonable position to hold, but I don't think it's fair to say hands down that she was the GOAT when Steffi, at 18 years old, emphatically and decisively ended her reign atop women's tennis. Martina had a dominant run as a singles player 1982-1987, including a run of six majors in a row, but there are definitely arguments you can make for Steffi. And really very few arguments you can make for Chris Evert over Steffi. In their respective primes, Steffi would have routinely beaten her. Chrissy's longetivity in the sport was impressive, but Steffi was no slouch along those lines herself, winning at least one major 10 consecutive years, winning three or more five different years, and being the only player to win all four majors four times (and she almost certainly would have won all four five times had she not missed the Australian Open due to injury on plural occasions).

I also think Serena at her best beats anyone who's ever played, but she's (fairly) dinged for inconsistency of focus and results.

 

[blaqtech]

My problem with this list from a Track and Field prospective is...... why isn't Evelyn Ashford on this list.

 

[MilfordHusky]

How were Annika and Martina affected by Title IX?

Annika played 2 years at Arizona.

 

[easttexastrash]

Certainly, the position that Martina was the GOAT is widely held and an absolutely reasonable position to hold, but I don't think it's fair to say hands down that she was the GOAT when Steffi, at 18 years old, emphatically and decisively ended her reign atop women's tennis. Martina had a dominant run as a singles player 1982-1987, including a run of six majors in a row, but there are definitely arguments you can make for Steffi. And really very few arguments you can make for Chris Evert over Steffi. In their respective primes, Steffi would have routinely beaten her. Chrissy's longetivity in the sport was impressive, but Steffi was no slouch along those lines herself, winning at least one major 10 consecutive years, winning three or more five different years, and being the only player to win all four majors four times (and she almost certainly would have won all four five times had she not missed the Australian Open due to injury on plural occasions).

I also think Serena at her best beats anyone who's ever played, but she's (fairly) dinged for inconsistency of focus and results.

Don't forget Steffi's golden slam. Probably the greatest year ever seen in women's tennis. Steffi was probably the greatest singles player ever but Martina's doubles abilities put her ahead of Steffi in the eyes of many. Care for it or not, doubles is still part of being a tennis player and requires a completely different set of skills.

 

[Olde Coach]

Annika played 2 years at Arizona.

The broad impact of Title IX was to greatly increase the number of girls/women playing sports -- and the number of athletes, parents, friends, media reporters et al who became interested in (and supportive of) women's sports -- from youth leagues to professional teams. In long established women's sports like tennis and golf, the huge increase in cash prize money and TV coverage brought both fame and fortune
to Annika and Martina that was not even imagined before the implementation of Title IX throughout the 1970's.

 

[easttexastrash]

The broad impact of Title IX was to greatly increase the number of girls/women playing sports -- and the number of athletes, parents, friends, media reporters et al who became interested in (and supportive of) women's sports -- from youth leagues to professional teams. In long established women's sports like tennis and golf, the huge increase in cash prize money and TV coverage brought both fame and fortune
to Annika and Martina that was not even imagined before the implementation of Title IX throughout the 1970's.

We will never know the full impact of Title IX. I love the fact that women have a future in sports that they no longer have to fight so hard to be able to secure. Billie Jean King, IMO, is the most influential person in the history of women's athletics and all young girls owe her a debt of gratitude.