• ​ATHLETE
• Voted FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR six times by the Associated Press
• Born Mildred Ella Didriksen (she changed the spelling of her last name)
• Competed in multiple sports, including diving, figure skating, basketball, and even as a minor league baseball pitcher
• Most known for her successes in Olympic track & field and golf
• ​Qualified for six Olympic events, but required by the existing rules to select only three in which to compete
• Won gold in the FIRST women's Olympic javelin throw
• Set WORLD RECORDS in Olympic 80-meter hurdles and the high jump
• Traveled the U.S. competing against men in baseball, basketball, and boxing
• Criticized for her "unfeminine" hairstyle (cropped), visage (she didn't wear makeup), and going against social norms for women of the time
• America's FIRST female golf celebrity, winning 99 tournaments
• Voted GREATEST FEMALE ATHLETE of the first half of the twentieth century
• FIRST American to win the British Amateur golf tournament
• Cofounded the Ladies Professional Golf Association

So. Very. Awesome.

Zaharias was once asked if there was anything she didn't play. Her answer: "Yeah, dolls."

Bibliography: Allred, Alexandra P. Atta Girl! A Celebration of Women in Sports. Terre Haute: Wish Publishing, 2003. Print.
Drimmer, Stephanie W. National Geographic Kids: The Book of Heroines: Tales of History's Gutsiest Gals. Washington DC: National Geographic Partners, LLC, 2016. Print.
Hall, Brian. Pioneers In Women's Sports. Minneapolis: Abdo Publishing, 2018. Print.
Schwartz, Larry. Didrikson was a woman ahead of her time. https://www.espn.com

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