In recent years, the rise of females in athletic settings has risen tremendously, causing strangers on the internet to argue about pay and damaging the egos of others. However, the question remains: how are females populating themselves in the sports world, and why has it taken so long for them to receive this recognition?Â
Women’s Success in Past Years
The first case would be the United States Women’s Nation Team. Founded in 1985, the team has been around for forty years, accumulating roughly nine total World Cups, with the last one being in 2023. Out of these nine World Cups, the United States team has won four of them. The attendance for their 2019 win was about 58,000 fans, while the last men’s World Cup received more than 88,000 fans. This number gets even worse when you look at average attendance for both sides. The men’s team gets about 38,000 fans per home game while women get about 20,000 fans. However, when looking at the teams successes next to each other, you can clearly see that the women have a record of being more successful, so why are they so poorly supported? The most common complaints talk about how there seems to be less team chemistry while the women are on the field, there is a lack of scoring that is capitalized on, and failure to adapt to opponents. While some of these could be rationalized, most teams do not win world championships with poor teamwork, lack of scoring, and the inability to adapt.Â
Another example would be the Olympics. The 2024 Paris Olympics showed that the United States Women’s Team won 26 gold medals, which contributed to the United States total of 40 medals. Expanding away from the gold medals, the women’s team won 69 of the United States’ 126 total medals. Showing that they won more than half of the total medals and more than half of the gold medals. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics the women contributed the same. Winning 23 gold medals and contributing a total of 66 of the United States’ 113 medals. This pattern has been repeating for years and you can go back as far as the 2000 Sydney Olympics and find that this has been happening for at least 25 years, and it will most likely keep happening. However, why don’t we hear much about the success of the Women’s Olympic Team? The most “important” thing that we have heard when looking at women and the Olympics would be when Simone Biles pulled herself out of multiple events during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, however, no one talked about how she came back for the 2024 Paris Olympics and won four medals, including three gold.Â
Famous Women Today (in sports)
Simone Biles (28) was born on March 14, 1997. She started gymnastics at age six while on a daycare trip. At age eight she started getting coached by Aimee Boorman. In 2016, while 19, Biles attended her first Olympic games and was on the U.S. gymnastics team known as the “Final Five”. Due to her gymnastics schedule, Biles completed college online at the University of the People, with an honorary doctorate degree in Humane Letters. Besides school, Biles has won 11 Olympic medals and has 30 World Championship medals, making her the most decorated gymnast and one of the greatest female athletes in history. As of right now, Biles is undecided about competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.Â
Caitlin Clark (23) was born on January 22, 2002. Clark started playing basketball at the age of five for a boys’ rec league because of the lack of a girls’ league. Clark was a five sport athlete, playing volleyball, soccer, tennis, golf, and of course, basketball. Clark went to the University of Iowa. Here, she broke the all-time scoring record for men and women’s basketball, she won multiple player of the year awards, led Iowa to a national championship appearance, and graduated as the number one draft to the WNBA. She majored in marketing with a minor in communication studies and held a 3.64 GPA. After being drafted to Indiana Fever, Clark won Rookie of the Year, made the ALL-WNBA First Team, set a single-season record for points and assists, and was the first player in NCAA tournament history with consecutive 40-point games. Right now, Clark is out for an injury, but is expected to be back for the 2026 WNBA season.Â
Coco Gauff (21) was born on March 13, 2004. She started playing tennis at age six, however, when she turned seven, her family moved to Delray Beach to have better training. At age eight, she started training with Gerard Loglo at New Generations Tennis Academy. Gauff earned her high school diploma through the Florida Virtual Flex online program, and completed college coursework to receive her degree from Florida Department of Education. She did not focus on picking a certain major because she has been focused on her tennis career. Gauff has been the 2023 U.S Open and 2025 French Open singles champion, a two-time Grand Slam winner, and the 2024 WTA Finals champion. She holds a career-high ranking of World No. 2 in singles and reached World No. 1 in doubles. She has won multiple WTA singles titles and was the youngest American to reach the Top 10 since Serena Williams in 1999. She was also the youngest player to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon in the Open Era. She has also won the Best Tennis Player at the ESPYS in 2024 and 2025 and was named MVP for her 2024 United Cup performance. She plans to use the rest of the year as training for the 2025 Australian Open.Â
Ilona Maher (29) was born on August 12, 1996. She started playing rugby at age 17, however, she was also involved in field hockey, basketball and softball. Maher went to Quinnipiac University where she graduated with a nursing degree after transferring to Norwich University. Four years after graduating, she earned her master’s degree in business administration from DeVry University. During college, she played at Quinnipiac University, where she led the team to three consecutive NIRA national championships. After graduating with her nursing degree, Maher started playing rugby for the national team where she made her debut at the Paris Seven tournament. She played in the Tokyo Olympic games, finishing in sixth place, and won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, making that the first-ever medal for the U.S. in the sport of rugby. In 2025 she was the 2025 ESPY for Best Breakthrough Athlete. As of now, Maher intends to try to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but she has been struggling to pick between the sport that she loves or her passion for modeling and television.Â
Why Has Women’s Sports Taken Over?
There are several reasons why women’s sports have started to gain attention. There has been a lot more media coverage for women’s sports, which has skyrocketed viewership. Some key events that have happened to help have been the Women’s World Cup success, which is starting to be recognized, the influence of social media for athletes, and the greater focus on gender equality. All of this new success has given more opportunities for these athletes and is expected to continue, even showing exponential growth in revenue when compared to men’s sports. Women are finally getting the recognition they deserve and the world cannot wait to see what is in store.Â