The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang concluded last month with its share of satisfactions for the U.S. team, who placed fourth in medal count at the end of the games. Women outperformed their male counterparts in winter sports for the U.S. team, winning five of the eight gold medals and 12 of the total 23 medals. With a gold medal for the women’s hockey team and the first medal in 42 years in cross country skiing for the U.S. team, it’s a good time to highlight women in sports and look at how far they’ve come.
Women’s sports are still in their infancy, only officially represented in national competitions and Olympic Games for the last few decades. As the NFL nears the century mark since its establishment, the Women’s Professional Football League, which is the longest running women’s sports association, is not even 50 years old. According to an infographic by Ohio University, at the high school and college level, 42 percent of all athletes are women; however, women only receive only 28 percent of the total money spent on athletics. Still, they continue to excel.
In the last several decades, there have been many influential women in sports to make their mark as powerful athletes who have phenomenal skill sets that can’t be matched. Women like Serena Williams and Becky Hammon excel as athletes in any setting and prove themselves as experts in their fields who are not limited by any physical hindrance. There are not only women athletes, but remarkable women leaders and executives that help take sports to a whole new level. The following women shined at the 2018 Winter Olympics for what they brought to the table.
Mirai Nagasu
Mirai Nagasu and the U.S. team made third place on the podium for figure skating, a sport where the U.S. has failed to excel in the last decade. Nagasu made history within the first 30 seconds of her free skate routine as the first U.S. woman to land a Triple Axel jump in competition, and the third woman from any country to do so. In a short video, she showed the world how she and other athletes prepare for jumps like these, as they are physically demanding and require the use of every muscle to achieve enough spin to pull off the jump.The 24 year old scored her personal best during this free skate.
Chloe Kim
At 17 years old, Chloe Kim made her mark as the youngest gold medalist in the Ladies’ Halfpipe competition. She’s also the first woman to land back to back 1080s in the olympic halfpipe. Her momentous performance earned her a near perfect score and a lot of attention — something she has already seen a lot of as a four time X Games gold medalist. The 17 year old was named one of TIME Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Teens in 2016, and Snowboarding Athlete of the Year at the 2016 US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) Awards.
Lindsey Vonn
Lindsey Vonn, 33, won a bronze medal in the women’s downhill skiing competition, going down as the oldest Alpine skiing medalist in olympic history. This accomplishment added to her career as a four time olympic medalist. She finished less than a second slower than first and second place, both athletes age 25. Vonn is endorsed by companies like Red Bull, Rolex and Head, which is how she makes a living from skiing. In a Kneading Dough interview with Maverick Carter, Vonn discussed the pay gap in women and men’s skiing and confessed that, without endorsements, it’s difficult to make a living from skiing. Vonn sought out endorsements and says she will not stop skiing until she is the best skier there is, not just best American or female skier.
Women’s Hockey
The U.S. women’s hockey team won gold at the 2018 winter olympics for the first time since the start of women’s hockey in the olympics in 1998. Placing second and third for each of the games in the last 20 years in some epically disappointing matches, the U.S. finally beat Canada in overtime last month. Women’s hockey was finally established 70 years after men’s hockey began in the olympics and women have played vigorously each year, in hockey as well as other commonly male dominated activities.
These women played spectacular roles and were essential parts of the U.S. taking fourth in number of medals at the games overall. They made history as the youngest and oldest women athletes to succeed in their sports, land their jumps, and to win a gold medal since the start of women’s hockey in the olympics. Their performances will continue to set a standard and to inspire the next set of olympians to come.
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