Rebecca Stanborough - 25 Women Who Dared to Compete

In the era of superstars like Serena and Venus Williams, Simone Biles, and Megan Rapinoe, its hard to imagine that our grandmothers had to fight for the right to play at all. Not long ago, in 1937, the official position of the American Physical Education Association (APEA) was that women should play for plays sake. Competition for girls? Totally unnecessary.

In the 1960s, girls and women began competing against one another. Still, boys teams were given superior facilities and equipment. And some people couldnt handle the idea of women in sports at all. In 1967, runner Kathrine Switzer was physically attacked just for trying to compete in the Boston Marathon.

Thank goodness society and progress dont stand still.

Today, the whole world has seen that women are fast, fierce, strong competitors. They can run, jump, dunk, dive, parry, and pitch. Powerful uppercuts, impossible landings, and down-to-the-buzzer goals are all part of the games women play. All across the globe, daring women sweat, break bones, tear ligaments, and keep on playing.

They have come a long waybut there are still to jump. In many sports, women are not paid the same as men. Womens games dont receive the same media coverage. And the world needs more women referees, announcers, and coaches.

But there are also many wins to celebrate. Winning championship titles and gold medals inspires us to reach further and train harder. We cheer the trailblazing women who changed their sportsand the worldforever.

Its important to teach our female youth that its OK to say, Yes, I am good at this, and you dont hold back.

Simone Biles

Competing at the highest level is hard enough. Winningand then winning again and againis even tougher. These women dreamed big and aimed high. Through hard work, motivation, and talent, they raced, tumbled, and hurdled their way to becoming champions.

Babe Didrikson won three medals and set three records at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California. The feat has never been repeated.

When Babe Didrikson was just a kid, she asked her neighbors to trim their hedges to the height of Olympic hurdles. Then she raced down Doucette Street, leaping over them one by one. She was dreaming of the Olympics from a very young age.

Before she reached her teens, she declared, I am going to be the best athlete of all time. It might have seemed like empty bragging. But she tackled so many sports and won so many trophies that it seemed she was headed for that title.

In 1932, her employer sent championship title and qualified for the Olympics.

Although some people were inspired by her athletic ability, many were not. It was rare for women to compete professionally in Didriksons era. Joe Williams, a sports writer at the New York Telegraph newspaper, thought Didrikson didnt belong at the Olympics. It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up, and waited for the phone to ring, he wrote.

Didrikson was not swayed by the disapproval. In the 1932 Olympics, she competed in three events. In the javelin, she broke an Olympic record and claimed the gold medal. In the 80-meter hurdles, she set a new record and grabbed the gold. In the high jump, she came in first but her head cleared the bar a bit before her body. Olympic judges said that method wasnt allowed. They gave Didrikson the silver medal.

Didrikson hurt her shoulder in the Olympics, which prevented her from continuing to compete in track and field. She discovered golfand loved itbecause it challenged her more than any sport ever had. She practiced hour upon hour until she mastered the sport. Didrikson eventually won a total of 82 golf championships. She once won 14 straight , a record that still stands today. Didrikson also won the Womens Western Open three times. Because there were few opportunities for women in professional golf, she and 12 other women founded the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

Babe Didrikson died of cancer at the age of 45. The Associated Press named her the Best Woman Athlete of the Half Century. But Didrikson might have said it in a slightly different way. The Babe is

At five years old, Julieanne Louise Krone led a horse into the house and asked her mother to saddle it. That same year, she won her first horse show. A decade later, she left home for Louisville, Kentucky, the home of Churchill Downs, the nations most famous racetrack. She started as a hot walker. Hot walkers lead horses around to cool them down after a race. Her next goal: ride the horse in the race.

For most of horse-racing history, women were just spectators in fancy hats. Krone trampled that idea. She won her first race in 1981, riding Lord Farkle at Tampa Bay Downs. She was the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Krone was also the first woman to win a event the Belmont Stakes. And she was one of a handful of jockeys ever to win six races in a single day.

In 2000, Julie Krone became the first woman inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The museum honors the achievements of Thoroughbred racehorses, jockeys, and trainers.

Along the way, she fell off a few times. Krone broke her ankle, her hands, and her back. A horse once kicked her so hard he literally bruised her heart. But she kept on riding. In her 22-year career as a jockey, Krone won 3,704 races. At a height of 4 feet 10 inches (147 centimeters), and weight of 100 pounds (45 kilograms), she has sat astride more than 21,000 of the fastest one-ton wonder-horses in the world. In 2019, Krone, who is now retired, started a junior jockey camp to teach riding skills to children during the summer in Cambridge, New York.

Krone has been named to both the Cowgirl Hall of Fame and the National Womens Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She was honored with the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award by the National Womens Sports Foundation. But it may be her Belmont Stakes win that matters most to her.

Over

In 1968, Olympic equestrian Kathy Kusner sued the state of Marylands Gaming Commission and won the right to become a licensed jockey. More than 50 years later, only 8 percent of licensed jockeys in the United States are women.

In 2017, Diana Taurasi (right) became the all-time leading scorer in the Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Diana Taurasi grew up with one foot on grass the other on hardwood, going from the soccer field to the basketball court, still having my shin guards on. Getting my first new pair of basketball shoes. The burn of the hot asphalt. The swoosh of the net and the whoosh of the soccer ball through freshly cut grass.