Athletes Flashcards
Abebe Bikila
1932-1973 Ethiopian marathon runner - First sub-Saharan African gold medalist, won back-to-back golds in the 1960 (running barefoot) y 1964 olympic marathon, y set world records in both - First athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title - Member of the elite Ethiopian Imperial Guard during the reign of Haile Selassie
(Mildred Ella) Babe Didrikson Zaharias
1911-1956 American athlete from TX - Pro golfer 1947-56; won US Women’s Open 3 times - 2 gold medals (1932 hurdles y javelin), 1 silver (1932 high jump) - Golf Hall of Fame inductee
Chris Evert
1954- American female tennis pro from FL - Won 18 Grand Slams between 1974-1986 - Played in 34 Grand Slam singles finals (record for men y women) - Highest career winning percentage of all time (90%) in singles matches
Diego Maradona
1960-2020 Argentine soccer attacking midfielder - Regarded by many as the greatest player of all time - Played for Argentina Juniors (1976-81); Barcelona (1982-84); Napoli (1984-91) - Led Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup with the “Hand of God” goal
Florence Griffith Joyner
1959-1998 American track athlete from Los Angeles- Fastest woman of all time: 100m y 200m records from 1988 still stand - 3 gold medals, 2 silvers - Retired after 1988 Olympic wins - Died from seizure at age 38
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
1962- American track and field athlete - Among all time greatest in long jump y heptathlon - 3 golds (1988, 92), 1 silver, 1 bronze - SI named her the greatest female athlete of 20th century - Overcame severe asthma
Joe Louis
1914-1981 American boxer from AL - Nicknamed the “Brown Bomber” - World heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949 - 66 wins, 3 losses in career - Two famous bouts against German boxer Max Schmelling in 1936 (L) y 1938 (W) - Voluntarily enlisted in the Army in 1942 - Often ranked the best heavyweight of all time
Marit Bjørgen
1980- Norwegian cross-country skier from Trondheim - Most Winter Olympic medals in history (14) - Most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup history - Won 3 golds in 2010 Olympics; 3 golds in 2014; y 1 gold in 2018
Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento)
1940- Brazilian soccer forward - Widely regarded as the greatest football player of all time - Most successful league goal-scorer in the world, scoring 1281 goals in 1363 games - Played for Brazilian club Santos FC (1956-74) - Won 3 World Cups (1958, 1962, 1970)
Rafer Johnson
1935- American decathlete y actor from TX - Won gold medal in decathalon (1960), y silver (1954) - First African-American flagbearer for US olympic team (1960) - Tackled Sirhan Sirhan moments after he had fatally shot Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 - Later acted in movies featuring Elvis, Tarzan, y James Bond
Roger Bannister
1929- English former middle-distance athlete y physician - First to run sub-4-minute mile in 1954 at Iffley Road Track at Oxford, while practising as a junior doctor - Went on to become a distinguished neurologist
Sebastian Coe
1956- British runner - Won gold in 1500m in 1980 y 84 - Held 800m world record from 1981-97 - Became MP after retiring
(Stefanie Maria) Steffi Graf
1969- German tennis player from Mannheim - Widely considered the greatest female player of the 20th cent. - Most recent player to complete a singles Grand Slam (1988 - winning all 4 major championships within a single calendar year) - Won a total of 22 Grand Slam singles titles between 1987-99 - Married to Andre Agassi, y resides in Las Vegas
Wilma (Glodean) Rudolph
1940-1994 American sprinter from TN - First American woman to win 3 gold medals in a single Olympics, winning the 100m, 200m, and 4x100 relay in 1960 - Retired shortly after in 1962 to become a coach - Contracted polio in early childhood, but overcame it by age 12
