A Celebration of Black Female Athletes
The 20th century is marked with passionate black athletes who asserted their civil rights and defied segregation to play professionally. To celebrate Black History Month, here is a look at some of the black female athletes who have risen to the top and the women who helped pave their way.
Florence Griffith-Joyner Florence Griffith-Joyner, or Flo Jo, as most people know her, still holds track and field world records 10 years after her untimely death at age 38. From her six-inch long fingernails to one-legged unitards, she brought an edgy look to the track that we're sad to say we've not seen since.
Before there could even be a Flo Jo, there was an Alice Coachman. In 1948, Coachman became the first black woman to win gold at the Olympics.
Vonetta Flowers How's this for notable? In 2002, Bobsledder Vonetta Flowers became the first black woman in the world to win gold at the Winter Olympics.
Wilma Rudolph Wilma Rudolph worked through her pain of a sprained ankle, and in 1960 became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic games. In 1994, Wilma was diagnosed with brain and throat cancer, passing away later that year as a result of her illnesses.
Venus and Serena Williams The stats speak for themselves. As a team, the sisters have captured US Open, Australian, and Wimbledon doubles championships -- they also have five Olympic gold medals between them. Individually, and on multiple occasions, both Venus and Serena have been ranked as the number one female tennis player in the world.
The Williams sisters follow in the footsteps of Althea Gibson -- the first black woman to compete on the world tennis circuit. During her career in the 1950s, Gibson held several Glad Slam titles.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jackie Joyner-Kersee has some serious bling -- the track and field star has a whopping six medals from the Olympic games! Sports Illustrated for Women voted Jackie as being the greatest female athlete of the 20th century, and she has also been called one of the top female collegiate athletes for her basketball career at UCLA.
Dominique Dawes Dominique Dawes, also known as Awesome Dawesome, was part of the "Magnificent Seven," the 1996 US Olympic women's gymnastics team that took home gold. Dawes also has an individual medal for her performance in the floor exercise.