Can You Identify All of These Amazing Female Athletes?

By: J.P. Naomi
Image: Wiki Commons by Scott Webb

About This Quiz

Are you ready to get your girl power on? Make way for champs on the court, the track, the mountain and the field because these female athletes are coming in hot, and we want to know if you can name them all! Will you be motivated and win gold like these champions? Or will you head home pouting like a poor sport? It's time to find out!

From Billie Jean King to Joan Benoit Samuelson and Mia Hamm to Jackie Joyner Kersee, amazing female athletes have inspired young women from generation to generation. We've watched the past performances of Mary Lou Retton and Nastia Liukin inspire those of Aly Raisman and Simone Biles today. We've watched the incredible swimming records of Dana Torres be challenged by Katie Ledecky. And we've watched as the speed and grace of Picabo Street and Katerina Witt inspire Chloe Kim and Alex Morgan of today. You see, no matter the sport or the nationality, athletes across the globe continue to inspire and challenge each other to greater heights, to more amazing feats. So now we challenge you ... think you have what it takes to recognize them all?

We're ready to take this amazing female athletes quiz to the championship level. Will you take it to the top step of the podium? Good luck!

Did you know that Serena Williams has won more than $88 million in prize money throughout her career? As the top earner among all female tennis players, she has a combined career record of 806 – 138.

A native of Illinois, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was born in 1962. Just 22 years later, she competed in her first of four consecutive Summer Olympics. By the time she retired in 1998, Joyner-Kersee had earned three gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Nadia Comaneci is a five-time Olympic gold medalist and the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at an Olympic Games. During her career, she coined two maneuvers still used by gymnasts today: the Comaneci salto and the Comaneci dismount.

At six feet tall, Diana Taurasi is regarded as one of the greatest women to play basketball. She led the University of Connecticut to three consecutive NCAA championships from 2002 – 2004 and is now a three-time WNBA champion. She has played with the Phoenix Mercury since 2004.

While at North Carolina, Mia Hamm helped lead her team to four consecutive NCAA Championship titles. She went on to play three seasons with the Washington Freedom. A member of the U.S. national team from 1987 – 2004, Hamm became the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Maria Sharapova turned pro on April 19, 2001. By 2005, she was ranked number one in singles. Did you know she is the only Russian to hold the career Grand Slam? She has a 643 –164 record and her current coach is Thomas Hogstedt.

Standing just five feet five inches tall, Billie Jean King had a one-handed backhand that led her to 129 career titles and a record of 695 – 155. She is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.

After a 19-year career, Lindsey Vonn announced her retirement in 2019. With 82 World Cup victories, she was a great competitor on and off the slopes, Vonn was awarded the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award and United States Olympic Committee's Sportswoman of the Year award in 2010.

Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche were headliners on the ticket for the first women's fight in UFC history in 2013. Rousey defeated Carmouche and went on to win a total of 12 mixed martial arts fights in her career. In 2018, she became the first female to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

Florence Griffith Joyner is the world record holder for the 100 and 200 meters races. She set both records at the 1988 Olympics where she also won a gold medal with her teammates in the 4x100 meter relay. Griffith Joyner died suddenly at the age of 38 from suffocation due to an epileptic seizure.

Sheryl Swoopes was drafted to the Houston Comets for the inaugural season of the WNBA. During her time with the Comets, she scored more than 2,000 points with 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 200 steals. She is a four-time WNBA champion and even has a Nike show named after her: "Air Swoopes."

Dana Vollmer was born ready to jump in the water. At just 12 years old, she became the youngest swimmer to compete, though unsuccessfully, in the U.S. Olympic Trials. By 2004, however, she was winning gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Athens. She now has 32 medals.

While playing professionally, Stefanie Maria Graf did something that no other tennis player had done before. Still to this day, she is the only player to have been ranked number one in the world for a total of 377 weeks. That's more than seven years' worth! Her career record was 900 - 115.

Katie Ledecky was born on March 17, 1997 in Washington, D.C. As of 2019, she has won a total of 31 medals, including 27 gold, in major swimming competitions across the world. A swimmer at Stanford University, Ledecky has been named "Swimming World's" Female World Swimmer of the Year five times.

Standing six feet, three inches tall, Kerri Walsh Jennings and her teammate Misty May-Treanor took home the gold in three consecutive Summer Olympics - 2004, 2008 and 2012. Did you know that Walsh Jennings has earned more than $2.5 million in prize money from her 133 career victories?

Dorothy Hamill won her first skating competition at the age of 12. Soon thereafter she was on the international stage as the figure skater to beat. Creator of the "Hamill camel" skating move, Hamill was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2000.

Following her incredible swimming career in which she won twelve Olympic medals, Jenny Thompson received a medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The 1998 "Female World Swimmer of the Year," Thompson now works as an anesthesiologist in Maine.

Did you know that Lolo Jones' real name is Lori? She is one of only a few athletes to have competed in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. She has served as a brakewoman for the U.S. bobsled team and competed in the 60- and 100-meter hurdles.

Danica Patrick is the only woman in history to win an IndyCar Series race. She did so in 2008 at the Indy Japan 300. In addition to her racing skills, she is also quite popular. Patrick was named IndyCar Series Most Popular Driver from 2005 - 2010.

Picabo Street made her professional debut in 1992 at the age of 21. She retired ten years later with two Olympic medals and three World Championship medals. She was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 2004.

If you watched the Olympic Games in 1996, you undoubtedly remember the image of Strug's coach, Béla Károlyi, carrying her to the awards podium. The U.S. team earned the gold medal that year for the all-around team competition.

Gabrielle Douglas was an integral part of the U.S. women's gymnastics team that won gold at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016. Douglas was also the all-around champion in 2012 as well as the Associated Press' Female Athlete of the Year.

Nastia Liukin was born in Russia but moved to the United States at the age of two following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Did you know she was coached by her mother, Anna Kotchneva-Liukin? Both Anna and Nastia's father, Valeri, were former Olympic gymnasts.

Alex Morgan played soccer at the University of California, Berkeley and following her graduation was drafted first overall in the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer draft. She has been a member of the U.S. national team since 2010 and has scored 101 goals in just 160 game appearances.

Katarina Witt not only won two Olympic gold medals in her career, but she was also named World Champion four times in six years. Following her 1988 retirement, she attempted a comeback in 1994. Though she fell short of a win, her performance had an emotional effect on fans throughout the world.

Missy Franklin was born on May 10, 1995 in Pasadena, California. In her first Olympic appearance at the age of 17, Franklin brought home five gold and one bronze medal from London. She was subsequently named Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year in 2012.

Chloe Kim started snowboarding at the age of four and began competing at just six years old. She trained in Valais, Switzerland and by 2013 had became a member of the U.S. Snowboarding Team. She is the only athlete to have won at the World, Olympic and X Games Championships.

Lisa Leslie was selected to the Los Angeles Sparks in the 1997 WNBA draft. She played with the team as a center until 2009 and is the current all-time playoffs blocks leader. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

Aly Raisman was the captain of the U.S. women's gymnastics team that won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. She earned individual medals at both Games as well, including gold in the floor and bronze on the balance beam in 2012, and silver in the all-around and floor in 2016.

Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was not just a professional golfer, she was also a track and field Olympian. During her career, she won 41 LPGA Tours as well as two gold medals at the 1932 Olympic Games for the 80 meter hurdles and javelin throw events.

With two Olympic medals, five World championships and nine U.S. championships, Michelle Kwan is considered one of the greatest figure skaters of all time. Not only is she the most decorated, but between prize money and endorsements, she was the top-paid skater from 1997 - 2005. She retired in 2006.

In 1995, Rebecca Lobo helped lead the University of Connecticut to an undefeated 35-0 season. Upon formation of the WNBA in 1997, she became an inaugural member of the New York Liberty and later played with the Comets and Sun. Lobo was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.

Hope Solo is considered one of the best female goalkeepers in the world. After playing at the University of Washington, she played in various clubs around the United States and Europe. As a member of the U.S. national team, Solo helped lead the team to victory in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

As of 2019, Venus Williams has won more than $41 million in prize money with a record of 800-236. She was the first African American female to be ranked number one in 2002 and is one of only three players to reach the finals of all four Grand Slams.

As a member of the "Final Five," Simone Biles wowed us at the 2016 Summer Olympics where she won four gold and one bronze medal. Most recently, she became the World all-around champion (for the fourth time!) in 2018 and fans look forward to the prospect of Tokyo 2020.

Nancy Lopez played golf at the University of Tulsa but left after her sophomore year and turned pro. Later that year she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the winner of the LPGA Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year. She is considered on of the greatest female golfers of all time.

Kristine Tsuya Yamaguchi was born on July 12, 1971 in Hayward, California. By 1992, she was a national, world and Olympic champion. Kristi played the role of Jasmine in Aladdin on Ice in 1995 and by 2005 had been inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

Standing just four feet nine inches tall, Mary Lou Retton was coached by Béla and Márta Károlyi throughout her career. Nicknamed America's Sweetheart, her legacy remains in the sport of gymnastics with a move known as "The Retton Flip."

Dara Torres began swimming at the age of seven and won her first national championship at 14. She represented the United States at the Olympics in 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008 winning at least one medal at each. Her career twelve medals include four gold, four silver and four bronze.

Joan Benoit Samuelson, now 61 years old, is an accomplished marathoner. Throughout her career, she competed in 12 notable marathons, placing first in six of them. She won the first Olympic marathon in 1984 as well as the Boston, Chicago and Auckland Marathons. Her personal best time was 2:21:21.

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