Women In Sports: Breaking Barriers: 1850 to the Present and Beyond

Women have competed in athletic events for a very long time, but it is only relatively recently that they have done so on the Olympic stage or in World Championship events. Since then, they have struggled against convention, expectations, and a host of other challenges. Yet, as they have always done, women have overcome, soaring to new heights and continuing to raise the bar (in the case of the pole vault, literally) of athletic achievement.

From the struggles of Wilma Rudolph to overcome polio and win three Olympic gold medals on the track to the heroic and at times lonely perseverance of Billie Jean King to bring parity and respectability to her sport and its competitors, this book is full of inspirational stories about women finding inspiration and determination within themselves and within one another.

In this book:

• Biographies of famous athletes, such as Sonja Henie and Dorothy Hamill, Gertrude Ederle and Diana Nyad, Suzanne Lenglen and the Williams sisters, Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner Kersee, Nadia Comaneci and Simone Biles.
• Stories of triumph over adversity.
• Stories of incredibly difficult training paying off with success at the highest levels.
• Histories of the development of skiing, basketball, and auto racing - all featuring pioneering women.

A book with groups of women by the sports. One longer bio and the shorter others.