Sports entertainment has always been dominated by males. However, the female division of various sports has been making huge strides over the past decades. Nowadays, a lot of female athletes have been making lucrative progress in the industry. After all, it only takes a catalyst and a perfect role model for a whole generation of young aspiring female athletes to be motivated to make life-long investments into pursuing sports.
One recent example of an elite female athlete to achieve monumental sports success is a two-division UFC Champion, Amanda Nunes. Although she isn’t UFC’s first two-division champion, she is the first UFC fighter to defend her titles in both weight divisions. She has defended her Bantamweight title five times and her Featherweight title two times. Her success has proved her superior mixed-martial-arts prowess and catapulted her fame and status to the mainstream level. It is proof that the women’s sports division can pull in hefty income for the sports industry.
It wouldn’t be surprising that soon, a new wave of Amanda-Nunes-inspired talents would make their debut in the world of mixed martial arts. That being said, Amanda is part of a long list of female greats that have graced the world of sports. So if you’re a fan of any sports, you need to know about their extraordinary degree of sports achievements as well.
Martina Navratilova
Tennis has been a sport where women have always found access to fame and fortune. Moreover, one of the industry’s greatest athletes of all time is Martina Navratilova. Her dominant streak is a degree of accomplishment that can rival the best of the best in any sport. During her prime in the ‘80s, she played 442 singles matches and won 428 of them. That’s a staggering 96.8% win rate. Simultaneously, she won 109 consecutive doubles matches along with Pam Shriver. By the tail end of her career, she had won 41 doubles titles and 18 Grand Slams to her name.
Mia Hamm
The female soccer division of the United States has been making headlines as of late. Especially with their advocacy to combat the wage gap.
One of the US female soccer team pioneers is Mia Hamm. She was a trailblazer in women’s soccer and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning in 1996 and 2004. Her most iconic moment was when she won the 1999 FIFA World Cup in the US. Brandi Chastain’s goal celebration, along with Hamm and the rest of the team in front of the home crowd, would forever be immortalized in sports history. Moreover, she achieved a remarkable degree of success, being the first woman to become a World Football Hall of Famer.
Annika Sorrentam
When talking of the best golfers in history, Annika Sorenstam will surely be amongst those mentioned. She went pro at the age of 22 and joined the LPGA in 1994. When she retired in 2008, she had eight LPGA Player of the Year Awards and won 72 LPGA events – the most wins for any golfer since the 1970s. Moreover, she won 90 international event credits over multiple tours.
Serena Williams
It is not an absurd argument to say that Serena Williams is the best female tennis player of all time. Her degree of dominance in the court is akin to Martina Navratilova’s reign back in the ‘80s. There is a reason why tennis fans from across the world coined the term Serena Slam. She successfully won all four Grand Slam tournaments simultaneously, twice. Moreover, she has the most Grand Slams in tennis history.
