SportsCenter and espnW Continue to Unveil Top 40 Female Athletes of Past 40 Years

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SportsCenter and espnW Continue to Unveil Top 40 Female Athletes of Past 40 Years

Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter May 9, 2012

espnW.com will provide in-depth look at athletes over 40 days leading to Title IX anniversary

Nos. 30-26 to be revealed daily beginning Monday, May 14

SportsCenter, in conjunction with espnW, will continue to unveil the Top 40 Female Athletes of the Past 40 Years, as part of ESPN’s companywide initiative The Power of IX – recognizing the 40th anniversary of Title IX. Nos. 30-26 will be revealed, one per day, beginning Monday, May 14, during the 10 a.m. ET weekday edition of SportsCenter.

Athletes 30-26 (in alphabetical order):

  • Michelle Akers (soccer) – United States Soccer Federation Female Athlete of the Year twice and won a Gold Medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games
  • Gail Devers (track) – Three-time Olympic Champion
  • Chamique Holdsclaw (basketball) – Four-time All-American and three-time NCAA Champion at the University of Tennessee
  • Nancy Lieberman (basketball) – Inductee to the Naismith Memorial and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fames; first female coach of a men’s team under the NBA umbrella
  • Grete Waitz (runner) – Marathon runner and former world record holder; won nine New York City Marathons between 1978 and 1988, along with an Olympic Silver Medal

Quotes from select vignettes:
Billie Jean King on Nancy Lieberman: “She had guts! Nancy Lieberman, oh pioneer, spoke out – didn’t care about the consequences – took a lot of hits for all of us – she just changed things.”

Julie Foudy on Michelle Akers: “She is a legend, a giant of the game, that I’m so grateful I had a chance to play with because she could finish in any way possible. She could finish from the outside, inside, with the head. Just a remarkable player.”

Each vignette is introduced by ESPN’s Hannah Storm, and includes footage and/or still action photos, along with video, from past or present coaches, teammates or a respected authority from within the women’s sports world.

The top 10 female athletes will be revealed during the 11 p.m. weeknight SportsCenter (June 11-22), culminating with the No. 1 female athlete of the past 40 years announced Friday, June 22 – one day prior to the 40th anniversary of Title IX (June 23).

espnW.com will provide an in-depth look at every athlete as chosen by an industry-wide blue-ribbon panel and based on athletic achievement. espnW.com has been the digital destination for ESPN’s The Power of IX initiative.

Previously announced athletes: No. 40 Fu Mingxia (diving), No. 39 Julie Krone (jockey), No. 38 Mary Lou Retton (gymnastic), No. 37 Cammi Granato (ice hockey), No. 36 Kristine Lilly (soccer), No. 35 Diana Taurasi (basketball), No. 34 Flo Hyman (volleyball) and No. 33 Abby Wambach (soccer).

The 24 voters:  Val Ackerman, Christine Brennan, Doris Burke, Jim Caple, Linda Cohn, Luke Cyphers, Anita DeFrantz, Sue Enquist, Chris Fowler, Jemele Hill, Johnette Howard, Sally Jenkins, Richard Lapchick, Nicole LaVoi, Donna Lopiano, Jackie MacMullan, Juliet Macur, Chris McKendry, Kathryn Olson, Robin Roberts, Le Anne Schreiber, Hannah Storm, Judy Sweet and Lesley Visser.

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Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter May 9, 2012
Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal

Rachel Margolis Siegal

A part of the Internal Communications team at ESPN, I began with the network in 2010 as part of the College Sports PR team. Always an avid sports fan and not an athlete – I grew up a huge fan of the Hartford Whalers, while also watching my brother compete at different levels. I became the manager of several high school sports teams and continued that hobby into college. While at Quinnipiac, I worked in the Sports Information Department, which led me to a summer internship at the New Haven Ravens, a AA baseball team, and an eventual job with the Athletic Communications Department at the University of Connecticut. After my five-year stint at Connecticut, I spent six years as Director of Communications at the BIG EAST Conference in Providence, R.I. before joining ESPN.
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