Sporting Icons Answersheet influential sportswomen Cathy Freeman Cathy Freeman was Australia’s only hope of an athletics gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games and became the icon of national unity. She was cheered to victory by 110,000 spectators at Sydney Olympic Stadium, coming from third place in the last 100 metres to take the Olympic title, the first Australian Aboriginal to win an individual gold medal. Freeman dropped to her knees, overcome with relief and pride. Her victory lap draped in the Australian and Aboriginal flag is an image that made front pages around the world. Freeman’s influence on the Indigenous community, through her successes, touched young and old and especially inspired the next generation of athletes. Since it was established in 2007, the Cathy Freeman Foundation has improved education outcomes for Indigenous children around the country and continues the legacy of excellence that Freeman established. Tanni Gray-Thompson Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson is one of Britain’s most iconic Paralympic athletes. She competed in five Paralympic Games, winning 11 Gold Medals, and is acknowledged as one of the most gifted and trail-blazing sportswomen for her dedication to bringing disability sport to a wider audience. Born with spina bifida and a wheelchair user from the age of eight, Welsh-born Grey-Thompson won twenty-two Paralympic and world championship medals, including thirteen golds in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres. She has also won the London Marathon six times. Grey-Thompson worked extensively to gain equal rights for disabled people and received an MBE in 1993 and an OBE in 2000 for services to sport. She was an Ambassador for the London 2012 bid team and plays an active part in disability sport and sports administration. Created a Dame in 2005, Grey-Thompson has been a crossbench peer in the House of Lords since 2010. Billie Jean King When King won Wimbledon in 1968, she received £750 – the male winner, Rod Laver received £2000. King was not going to put up with this massive inequality: she fought as hard off the court as she did on it to raise the profile and standing of women’s tennis. In 1970 she helped organise a professional women’s tour, while in 1973 her boycott threat forced the US Open to pay equal prize money. Just to underline the point, in that same year she thrashed chauvinistic Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes match. It was watched by 90 million TV viewers. King was publicly outed as being gay in 1981. While King’s contribution to women’s and gay rights has been substantial and important, it should be remembered that she was always a dominant force on the tennis court. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, another 16 doubles and 11 mixed doubles matches, and in 1971 she became the first female athlete to earn over $100,000 in prize money. Megan Rapinoe Megan Rapinoe is a co-captain of the USWNT, alongside Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd. She helped the US to its second consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup championship in 2019, scoring six goals for the Golden Boot and Golden Ball Awards. She was also on the 2015 team that won the Cup, as well as the 2012 Olympic team, which took home gold. Rapinoe has made noise both on and off the field. She is an advocate for numerous LGBTQ organizations and often uses her platform to speak out against social injustice. She is also an advocate for women in sports and equality. Wilma Rudolph African American sprinter Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics. She overcame the loss of strength in her left leg and foot, caused by polio at five years old, to become the fastest woman in the world at the 1960 Olympics. She held the record for the 100 meters at 11.2 seconds and 200 meters at 22.9 seconds. Rudolph gained international recognition during the 1960 Olympics because of worldwide television coverage and became an iconic figure for black and female athletes. During the peak of the civil rights movement, Rudolph was a trailblazer for the rights of African Americans and women. She broke the gender barrier of all-male events in track and field, and her legacy lives on today. Sporting Icons Answersheet influential sportswomen Serena Williams Serena Williams is highly regarded as one of the best female tennis players of the Open era. Her victories have shaped her into an inspirational figure in the sport, especially to children, but she has also been met with backlash by others. Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined among active players and tied for third on the all-time list. She is second in the Open era. Her 23 Grand Slam singles titles is a record for the most tournament wins in the Open era. In 2019, she was the only woman on the list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, according to Forbes. Along with her sister Venus Williams, the two are considered pioneers of a new era for women in tennis that is focused on power. Alex Morgan Alex Morgan is the co-captain for the United States Women’s Soccer Team and won her second consecutive FIFA World Cup championship in 2019. She debuted in the World Cup in 2011, where the team won silver. In 2012, Morgan recorded 28 goals and 21 assists to become the second American woman to score 20 goals and 20 assists in the same calendar year alongside Mia Hamm. She was also the sixth and youngest US player to score 20 goals in a single year. Since being named to the senior US team in 2019, Morgan has accumulated 169 caps and 107 goals. She was also one of the first women’s soccer players to appear on the cover of a FIFA video game. Off the field, Morgan is part of the US soccer women fighting for equal pay. Irene van Dyk South Africa-born Irene van Dyk is one of the world’s best netball players. She represented her homeland 72 times before relocating to New Zealand in 2000. Van Dyk was quickly snapped up by the national Silver Ferns team and represented New Zealand internationally for 14 years. With the Silver Ferns she won Commonwealth Games gold medals, a world title, she played some 145 tests, and has been the world’s best shooter arguably for the best part of 20 years. Van Dyk now retired is an ambassador for the sport, both in New Zealand and in the wider Pacific region, championing children to get active and reduce screen time. Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill Olympic champion and three-times world champion heptathlete, Jessica Ennis-Hill is one of Great Britain’s most successful athletes. Ennis-Hill’s heptathlon gold was one of the iconic moments of London 2012’s ‘Super Saturday’. She had her first child, Reggie, in 2014 and won a second world title just 13 months later. Headline writers called it “the mother of all comebacks” as she triumphed in the gruelling event which consists of the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin throw and 800m. The Sheffield-born athlete just missed out on retaining her Olympic title in Rio by 35 points to Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam. After retirement in 2016, Ennis-Hill was made a dame for services to athletics. Babe Didrikson Zaharias Multi-sport American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Olympics and won 10 LGPA major championships. She won a total of 82 gold tournaments. Zaharias also participated in basketball, baseball, softball, diving, roller-skating, and bowling. Zaharias was known for breaking the boundaries of what it meant to be female in her time. She was physically strong and criticized for it. She was inducted into the LGPA Hall of Fame in 1951 and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1976. Zaharias was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953. In her later years, she also became known as an advocate for cancer awareness, using her popularity to raise money for her cancer fund. At the time, many Americans refused to seek treatment for cancer. She died three years later in 1956 at 45. Sporting Icons Answersheet influential sportsmen Muhammad Ali Ali was a successful black man living during one of the most turbulent periods for race relations in American history. Ali was never afraid to speak up, even when his views were controversial – expressing his strong opinions on race, religion and war. His frank stance on politics and society upset the conservative establishment of the 1960s and 70s America. He was stripped of titles, banned from boxing and threatened with prison. Yet his determination, principles, and fearlessness in speaking out ensured Ali won through eventually – both in and out of the ring. Declaring yourself “the greatest” might seem like a fate-tempting, self-aggrandising statement, but Ali fought to live up to the standards he set himself, taking the sport to another level. His two epic bouts – the Thrilla in Manila against Joe Frazier and the Rumble in the Jungle versus George Foreman – were not just great boxing matches, they became two of 20th century’s great stories. In 1984 Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease but he was determined to carry on making a difference. He made goodwill missions to Afghanistan and North Korea, he brought medical supplies to Cuba and even helped to secure the release of 15 American hostages from Iraq before the 1990 Gulf War: all despite his suffering.