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Heritage Floor Tags > profession: Athlete
Cynisca
b. circa 440 B.C., Sparta, ancient Greece; date of death unknownCynisca was a Spartan princess and athlete. She competed in the Olympiads in the four-horse chariot races—as an owner and breeder of horses, not as a driver—and won in 396... Read more
Babe Didrikson
b. 1911, Port Arthur, Texas; d. 1956, Galveston, TexasAlthough Mildred "Babe" Didrikson won kudos as a champion golfer, there were few sports she did not master: tennis, swimming, track and field, softball, baseball, basketball, deep sea diving, roller... Read more
Euryleon
Flourished circa 250 B.C., Sparta, ancient GreeceThe correct spelling of this name is EURYLEONIS.
Euryleonis was an athlete from Sparta who, like the Spartan princess Cynisca, won in the chariot races of the... Read more
Althea Gibson
b. 1927, Silver, South Carolina; d. 2003, East Orange, New JerseyAlthea Gibson was the first African American woman to compete in the prestigious tennis tournaments at Wimbledon in England and the U.S. National Championships in Forest Hills, Long Island. She... Read more
Sophia Heath
b. 1896, Knockaderry, Limerick County, Ireland; d. 1939, LondonLady Sophie Mary Heath was a pioneer Irish aviator and proponent of women's events in the Olympic Games. She founded the English Women's Amateur Athletic Association in 1922 and published... Read more
Sonja Henie
b. 1912, Oslo; d. 1969, Los AngelesSonja Henie won the first of ten consecutive world championships in figure skating in 1927 at the age of fourteen. She also earned Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932, and... Read more
Elin Kallio
b. 1859, Finland; d. 1927, FinlandElin Kallio was an accomplished gymnast who advanced the sport in her native country. A gymnastics instructor for thirty-four years, she founded the first Finnish association for female gymnasts in... Read more
Madame A. Milliat
b. 1884, France; d. 1957, FranceAlthough women had competed at the Olympic Games since 1900 in certain sports such as swimming and archery, they were barred from the most prestigious event, track and field. Madame... Read more
Annie Smith Peck
b. 1850, Providence, Rhode Island; d. 1935, New YorkAnnie Smith Peck was a forty-four-year-old professor of Latin at Smith College in Massachusetts when she took up mountain climbing. From then on, her determination to climb and break records... Read more
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum