Achieve Victory With This Quiz on Female Athletes

All four women above qualified for men’s PGA Tour events, but the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias is still the only woman to make the cut, and she did it three times, all in 1945. Zaharias, who in 1950 became one of the co-founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, won 10 times on the LPGA tour. Before her golf career, Zaharias won two Olympic gold medals in track and field.

The most famous World Cup-winning kick in U.S. history is probably Brandy Chastain, who followed it with an iconic celebration after beating China in 1999. But the U.S. women won their first World Cup eight years earlier in 1991 when Michelle Akers scored both goals to beat Norway. The second goal was a striking header to break a 1-1 tie.

In 1992, the Tampa Bay Lightning signed Manon Rheaume, a goalie from Team Canada’s women’s team. She became the first woman to play in an NHL exhibition game on September 23, 1992, when she started against the St. Louis Blues, stopping seven of nine shots. Rheaume also played 24 games for men’s minor league teams, and helped lead Canada to silver at the 1998 Olympics.

When gymnasts become the first to complete a maneuver in competition, it’s customary to name the move after the athlete. “The Liukin” is a front salto named after the United States’ Nastia Liukin, and “The Yurchenko” is named after Russia’s Natalia Yurchneko. Simone Biles progressed so far beyond everyone else, she had four moves named after her. The triple-double is also known as “The Biles II.”

With four wins, basketball player Breanna Stewart holds the record for the most NCAA Most Outstanding Player awards, and – according to current eligibility rules – the record is literally unbreakable. She won every year she was eligible while playing for the University of Connecticut. Four other players won twice, no one else has won three. Stewart also won four national titles in her four years at college and went 151-5.

No one has ever had a greater year in tennis than Steffi Graf in 1988. She began the year winning the Australian Open final over Chris Evert and at the French Open final, Graf dominated 6-0, 6-0 over Natasha Zvereva. At Wimbledon, Graf defeated another legend, Martina Navratilova. That same year, Graf also defeated Gabriela Sabatini in the US Open Final, and in the gold medal match at the Olympics.

After figure skating her way to three Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships, Sonja Henie took the silver screen by storm. Starring in a series of hit films in the 1930s, such as "Happy Landing, My Lucky Star" and "Sun Valley Serenade," Henie became one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.

Katie Ledecky has won 19 gold medals at World Championships, and seven golds in Olympic competition. She is the first swimmer to win gold at five consecutive World Championships, in the 800-meter freestyle. The only swimmer to ever win more World Championship golds is Michael Phelps, who won 26 … but Katie is still going with no immediate plane to retire as of late 2022.

During the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis, Indiana, Griffith Joyner ran the 100-meter in a record-breaking 10.49 seconds, a time which hasn't been matched by a woman since. At that year's Games in Seoul, "Flo-Jo" won three gold medals and ran the 200-meter in 21.34 seconds, shattering the previous record held by Marita Koch.

Track athlete Kathrine Switzer wanted to test her mettle in one of the most famous races — the 1967 Boston Marathon. Women were barred from competing in the race, and as it began, one of the coordinators tried to forcibly remove Switzer. She was able to evade him and complete the race, becoming the first woman to do so. Women became officially eligible to run the marathon five years later.

Title IX is a 37-word section of the Education Amendments of 1972 that simply states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Before Title IX, one in 27 girls played sports. Today, that number is two in five.

Tennis great Serena Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 doubles titles, and four Olympic gold medals, with her overall prize winnings totaling more than $94 million. That hefty sum is more than twice what any other female athlete has made. Additionally, Williams has nearly 20 corporate sponsors and many startup investments, putting her total net worth at nearly a quarter-billion dollars.

After gymnast Mary Lou Retton won the individual all-around competition gold at the 1984 Olympics, she became the first woman pictured on the front of the iconic Wheaties box and was named the cereal's first official spokeswoman. She also went on to be named 1984's "Sportswoman of the Year" by "Sports Illustrated."

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings are the greatest team in beach volleyball history. They won three gold medals in consecutive Olympics: 2004, 2008, and 2012. At one point they won 112 straight matches. Walsh Jennings competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics without May-Treanor and won the bronze medal with April Ross.

In 1950, Althea Gibson became the first Black person to play in the U.S. National Tennis Championships. Six years later, she was the first Black person to win a Grand Slam event when she took the title at the French Open. In 1957, Gibson became the first Black woman on the cover of "Time," and in 1960, she switched sports to become the first African American on a professional women’s golf tour.

Golf was invented in the Scottish highlands, so it only makes sense that the Queen of Scots herself would be a player. By most accounts, Mary was a big fan of the game and is even credited with popularizing the term "caddie." It wouldn't be until 1811 that golf had its first official tournament for women, but, thanks to Mary, women have been playing it since its earliest days.

On June 21, 1997, Lisa Leslie and Kym Hampton took center court for the first ceremonial jump ball of the Women’s National Basketball Association. A quarter of a century later, the league has 12 teams nationwide and millions of fans. The WNBA was founded with the full backing of the NBA and on the heels of the 1996 USA Women's National Team gold medal performance at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

During the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, at the young age of just 14, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci was perfect. Her routine on the uneven bars was so spectacular that the scoreboard couldn't even properly display its perfection, only showing "1.00" instead of "10.00." During the rest of the Games, Comăneci earned six more perfect 10s and took home three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze.

Former world No. 1 Bobby Riggs was a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, who boasted that women were inferior and couldn't handle the pressure of the game of tennis. He declared that he could beat any female player, and Billie Jean King stepped up to prove him wrong. Their "Battle of the Sexes" match was watched by more than 50 million people on TV, who saw King defeat Riggs in three straight sets.

In 1943, during the height of World War II, many men were sent to fight overseas, leaving the country's baseball teams with limited players. To keep the pastime going, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was established. For the next 10 years, women played professional baseball across the Midwest, a story which was depicted in the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own."