Valerie Brisco-Hooks with her son Alvin Jr. at the 1984 Olympic trials. Valerie would go on to win three gold medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
15 year old, Andrea Mead Lawrence during practice for the Winter Olympics, 1947
by George Silk
Andrea Mead Lawrence (1932-2009) did not medal at the 1948 Olympics, but she went on to win gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom at the 1952 Olympics. A peak in Mono County, CA was named in her honor in 2010.
Sharon Hedrick of U.S.A. set a world record for women’s 800-meter wheelchair race. Photo dated: August 12, 1984.
Sharon won the gold medal in the 800 m wheelchair race at both the 1984 and 1988 Olympic games, setting world records both times. She also won six gold, four silver, and two bronze medals as a Paralympian in athletics, swimming, and basketball. Before she competed in the Olympics and Paralympics, Sharon was the first female wheelchair athlete to enter and complete the Boston Marathon (1976).
Sharon is part of the delegation representing President Obama at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. The games began on August 29.
Some of the amazing Team USA women’s performances during the London Olympics — they earned 28 of the USA’s 46 gold medals in London. If the American women were their own country, they would be third in the medal count.
Here’s to you, ladies.
(All photos by USA TODAY and USA TODAY Sports photographers.)
Biographies, Autobiographies, and Inspirational Books: Female Summer Olympians
Links go to Amazon, also see gymnast only list of biographies and autobiographies and picture books about female Olympians.
In the Water They Can’t See You Cry: A Memoir by Amanda Beard and Rebecca Paley (Swimming)
It’s Not About the Bra: Play Hard, Play Fair, and Put the Fun Back Into Competitive Sports by Brandi Chastain (Soccer)
Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big and Believe in Yourself by Jennie Finch and Ann Killion (Softball)
Go For the Goal: A Champion’s Guide To Winning In Soccer And Life by Mia Hamm and Aaron Heifetz (Soccer)
Breaking Through: Beating The Odds Shot after Shot by Chamique Holdsclaw (Basketball)
The Rivals: Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova Their Epic Duels and Extraordinary Friendship by Johnette Howard (Tennis)
A Kind of Grace: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Female Athlete by Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Sonja Steptoe (Track & Field)
Don’t Let The Lipstick Fool You: The Making of a Champion by Lisa Leslie and Larry Burnett (Basketball)
Running with Swords: The Adventures and Misadventures of an Irrepressible Canadian Fencing Champion by Sherraine MacKay (Fencing)
Misty: My Journey Through Volleyball and Life by Misty May-Treanor and Jill Lieber Steeg (Beach Volleyball)
You Let Some Girl Beat You?: The Story of Ann Meyers Drysdale by Ann Meyers Drysdale (Basketball)
Solo: A Memoir of Hope by Hope Solo (Soccer, there’s also a young readers edition)
Champions Are Raised, Not Born: How My Parents Made Me a Success by Summer Sanders and Melinda Marshall (Swimming)
Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America’s Olympic Champion by Michael Silver and Natalie Coughlin (Swimming)
Age Is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage in Your Life by Dara Torres and Elizabeth Weil (Swimming)
On the Line by Serena Williams and Daniel Paisner (Tennis)
Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias by Don Van Natta Jr. (Track & Field)
Valerie Brisco-Hooks shows off her Olympic medals at her alma mater, West Athens Elementary. In her arms is her son, Alvin Jr.
Valerie won three gold medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles: 200 m, 400 m, and the 4 x 400 m relay. In 1988 she won a silver medal in Seoul in the 4 x 400 m relay. Today, Valerie is a track coach in the Los Angeles area.
Dominique Moceanu’s mount onto the balance beam at the 1996 Atlanta games
Not a medal winning routine, but you can hear the crowd gasp when Dominique does her beam mount during the team finals.
Record-breakers. Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, and anchor Carmelita Jeter of Team USA took down a 27-year-old world record on their way to an Olympic gold medal in the 4 x 100m relay final. They clocked in at 40.82s, over half a second faster than the 41.37s record set by East Germany back in 1985.
Sixteen year old Ulrike Meyfarth of West Germany competed in the High Jump competition at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. She won the gold medal by jumping 1.9 meters (74.8 inches).
The 1980 Moscow Olympics were boycotted by countries such as the US, Japan, China, Argentina, and Canada. This left room in the competition for teams who would not otherwise be invited to compete.
One such team was the Zimbabwe’s all white field hockey team who went on to win gold. The BBC interviewed team member Liz Chase about this experience.
Grete Waitz was a Norwegian marathon runner. She won nine New York City marathons, more than any other runner in history. Grete also competed in the 1500m at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic games, but did not medal in these races outside of her specialty.
The marathon was not introduced as an Olympic sport for women until the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Grete, then age 30, competed for Norway and won the silver medal.
The 1986 photograph above was captioned with a quote from Grete: “Until there is also a 5,000 meters for women as there is for men in the Olympics, the women’s program will not be equal.” The women’s 5000m was introduced at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Today Katie Taylor won the first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s lightweight boxing. Here is how her hometown celebrated.
Serena Williams and Venus Williams of the United States celebrate after defeating Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic in the Women’s Doubles Tennis gold medal match.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
(Source: gettyimages.com)
The 1952 individual Dressage podium – gold went to Henri St-Cyr (Sweden), silver to Lis Hartel (Denmark) and bronze to André Jousseaume (France).
Women were first allowed to compete in Dressage in 1952, making Lis Hartel the first woman to medal in the sport. Eight years earlier Lis contracted polio while pregnant and became paralyzed from the knees down. Despite this impairment, Lis won silver medals in both the 1952 and 1956 Olympics.
Aly Raisman’s gold medal winning floor exercise to Hava Nagila.
It is always nice when floor exercise music is easily recognizable, but this selection had a special punch considering the controversial lack of a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes killed in the 1972 Munich games. Aly has said “Having that floor music wasn’t intentional, but the fact it was on the 40th anniversary is special, and winning the gold today means a lot to me.” This is the cover of today’s New York Post, the tabloid style paper the provided the quote above.
Aly is the first American woman to win gold on the floor exercise. In the US, you can see her routine here.
(Source: dreamingaboutflowersandclouds)
