Women’s History in Sports: Honoring the GOATs Who Led the Way
We’ve seen time and again that it takes a true GOAT to pave the way and break the glass ceilings that linger over the heads of women, even to this day.
But what is a GOAT? If you’ve heard the term used lately and wondered why someone suddenly brought up a barnyard animal, they probably didn’t mean an actual goat. The term GOAT is a recent, popular acronym that stands for Greatest Of All Time.
Because March is Women’s History Month, we want to pay tribute to a couple of the GOATs who took the athletics world by storm. These are women who have expanded the world around themselves through hard work and an unwavering refusal to back down from their goals.
Of course, choosing who to feature is its own challenge because there are so many women GOATs worthy of recognition, not to mention numerous sports.
Mary Lou Retton (Left), Simone Biles (Right)
Gymnastics:
In 1984, Mary Lou Retton walked into the Olympics and walked out with one gold, two silver, and two bronze medals for her gymnastic performances, skyrocketing into stardom in a way that had never been seen before. In 2016, Simone Biles cleaned house at the Olympics with four gold medals as well as a bronze, becoming the most decorated woman at the event and an international superstar.
Kathrine Switzer running the Boston Marathon in 1967
Running:
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. She’s famously known for this photograph of her running in the race, with her numbers on, while a male official chased her and attempted to take her numbers by force. In 2019, 45.2% of registrants for the Boston Marathon were women.
Ibtihaj Muhammad celebrating her victory
Fencing:
Ibtihaj Muhammad is a sabre fencer. She participated in the 2016 Olympics, winning bronze. She is also the first American athlete to wear a hijab at the Olympics, leading the way for others to follow.
The list goes on and on, filled with inspiring trailblazers. We can’t possibly highlight every legendary GOAT, so we decided to focus on two of our favorites: Tara VanDerveer and Serena Williams.
Tara VanDerveer, NCAA Women’s D1 Basketball Coach
Tara VanDerveer has been an NCAA women’s head coach for an astonishing 41 seasons. She is the current head coach for Stanford University and has been with them since 1985, and prior to that she led the teams for Ohio and Idaho for a combined seven years.
VanDerveer is a true GOAT for many reasons:
At the time of this writing, VanDerveer holds the record for most career wins as a head coach with 1,119 wins (per NCAA statistics). That number will continue to grow.
As head coach of the USA national team in 1996, her team had a perfect 52-0 exhibition run followed by an 8-0 sweep to win the Olympic gold.
She has been named the Big Ten Coach of the Year twice.
VanDereer’s book, Shooting from the Outside, tells the story of how her love of the sport propelled her from being on the sidelines in a mascot costume to leading the women’s USA national basketball team to Olympic gold in Atlanta.
As proud Hoosiers, we also feel compelled to point out that VanDerveer is an alumnus of Indiana University, graduating in the class of 1975.
Serena Williams, Queen of Tennis
It’s possible that you haven’t heard of Serena Williams — possible but very, very unlikely. Williams is a world-famous star of the tennis court.
Her career exploded onto the scene in 1999 at the age of 17 when she won the US Open, and very little has been the same since. She breathed life and popularity into a sport that had a reputation as being exclusive, perhaps even somewhat elitist. Two years later in 2001, when Williams faced off against her sister Venus in the US Open, they garnered television ratings higher than the US college football game that aired simultaneously.
Venus won that round, but not long after, Serena Williams completed what became known as the “Serena Slam,” securing wins at four consecutive Grand Slam titles (the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in 2002, and the Australian Open in 2003). She accomplished the Serena Slam again in 2015.
Williams’s record speaks for itself and cements her place as a true GOAT:
Only gold for this tennis queen — she won 4 Olympic gold medals (in 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016).
Her 2015 Serena Slam also made her the “oldest Grand Slam singles champion in the Open era.”
Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, plus 14 in women’s doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles.
Williams’s autobiography, On the Line, was published in 2009. An HBO series, Being Serena, came out in 2018.
Setting GOAT-Worthy Goals
At Raymer Strength Foundation, we know that all our women athletes have what it takes to be leaders, and we’re inspired by them every day.
We see them set goals that are currently beyond their reach and then chase those goals with single-minded determination until they accomplish what they set out to do.
If you have a dream you’re passionate about, if you want to break records or even simply do something you’ve never done before, believe in yourself and start today. And if the Raymer Strength Foundation can help you get there, reach out and let’s talk about all the awesome accomplishments you want to make.
So you want to be a GOAT?
GO FOR IT!