As the World marks International Women's day today, February 8, we take a closer look at Women who are highly rated in the World of Sports.
The greatest female athletes of all time: a list of the most dominant, iconic female athletes to ever play or compete in their respective sports.
This list gathers female sports stars from across every professional league, association, and organization as well as amateur female athletes who may have never competed professionally in one overall list.
1.Steffi Graf
age 48
Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
Her 22 singles titles put her second on the list of major wins in the female competition since the introduction of the Open Era in 1968 and is third all-time behind Margaret Court (24) and Serena Williams (23). In 1988, she became the first and only tennis player (male or female) to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Furthermore, she is the only tennis player to have won each Grand Slam tournament at least four times.
2.Serena Williams
age 36
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 1 in women's singles tennis. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her World No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions over the last 15 years from 2002 to 2017. She became the world No. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf for the most consecutive weeks as world No. 1 by a female tennis player. In total, she has been world No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova. Some commentators, players and sports writers regard her as the greatest female tennis player of all time. On April 19, 2017, she announced a hiatus from tennis until 2018 because of pregnancy.
3.Annika Sörenstam
age 47
Annika Sörenstam born 9 October 1970 is a retired Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name. She has won 72 official LPGA tournaments including ten majors and 18 other tournaments internationally, and she tops the LPGA's career money list with earnings of over $22 million—over $2 million ahead of her nearest rival while playing 149 fewer events. Since 2006, Sörenstam has held dual American and Swedish citizenship.
4.Paula Radcliffe
age 44
Paula Jane Radcliffe, MBE (born 17 December 1973) is an English long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and 2002 Chicago Marathon winner. She has been the women marathon world record holder for 15 years (2002–present).
5.Jackie Joyner-Kersee
age 55
Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is an American retired track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of All-Time. She is on the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field (USATF), the national governing body of the sport.
6.Věra Čáslavská
age 75
Věra Čáslavská is a Czech former gymnast. Attractive, cheerful and possessing impressive stage presence, she was generally popular with the public and won a total of 22 international titles including seven Olympic gold medals, all in individual events. Čáslavská is the most decorated Czech gymnast in history and is one of only two female gymnasts, along with Soviet Larisa Latynina, to win the all-around gold medal at two consecutive Olympics. She was also the 1966 all-around World Champion and the 1965 and 1967 all-around European Champion.
7.Yelena Isinbayeva
age 35
Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva (born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 2008), a three-time World Champion (2005, 2007 and 2013), the current world record holder in the event, and is widely considered the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time. Isinbayeva was banned from 2016 Rio Olympics after the appearance of an independent report about an extensive state-sponsored doping program in Russia, thus dashing her hopes of a grand retirement winning the Olympic gold medal. She retired from athletics in August 2016 after being elected to serve an 8-year term on the IOC's Athletes' Commission.
8.Sonja Henie Died at 57 (1912-1969)
Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in Ladies' Singles, a ten-time World Champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931–1936). Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. At the height of her acting career, she was one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood and starred in a series of box-office hits, including Thin Ice (1937), My Lucky Star (1938), Second Fiddle (1939) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941).
9.Marit Bjørgen
age 37
Marit Bjørgen (born 21 March 1980) is a Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 112 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup history, with twenty-nine victories. She headed the medal table at the 2010 Winter Olympics by winning five medals, including three gold. A five-time Olympian, her five Olympic medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang games brought her total number of medals up to fifteen, the most by any athlete (female or male) in Winter Olympics history.
10.Carolina Klüft
age 34
Carolina Evelyn Klüft ( born 2 February 1983) is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon, triple jump, long jump, and pentathlon. She was an Olympic Champion, having won the heptathlon title in 2004. She was also a three-time World and two-time European heptathlon champion. She is the only athlete ever to win three consecutive world titles in the heptathlon (2003, 2005, 2007), and was unbeaten in 22 heptathlon and pentathlon competitions from 2002 to 2007, winning nine consecutive gold medals in major championships.