10 women with outstanding sports talent

The sporting world has witnessed some of the biggest female super-stars in this era. They are recognized and feted in equal measure thus become incredible role models. Here is a list of some of world renowned female sporting superstars, compiled by Barry Silah  

1,Tegla Loroupe 

 Tegla Chepkite Loroupe is a retired Kenyan long-distance track and road runner. She is also a global spokeswoman for peace, women’s rights and education. The 48-year-old athlete holds world records for 25 and 30km marathons.

She was the first African woman to hold the world marathon record from 19 April 1998 until 30 September 2001. She is the three-time World Half-Marathon champion. Loroupe was the first African woman to win the New York City Marathon twice.

She has won marathons in London, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Berlin and Rome. In 2016, she was involved in organising the Refugee Team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2,Conjestina Achieng 

The former boxing sensation created a big buzz during her heydays in the ring. The 44-year-old who was also known as ‘hands of stone’ had many feats during her active career. She became the first Kenyan woman to hold an international title when she beat Ugandan Fiona Tugume to take the vacant WIBF Middleweight title.

She also lost out in controversial title fight circumstances to then WBC, and WBA Super middleweight Natascha Ragosina. However, in 2011, health issues started affecting the pugilist where her family called on well-wishers to save their kin. She was later taken to Mathari Hospital for Mental Health treatment as her career fell apart. 

3,Catherine Ndereba 

The 49-year-old Kenyan marathoner won multiple titles during her reign. She has twice won the marathon at the World Athletics Championships and won silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008.

She is  a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon. She broke the women’s marathon world record in 2001, running 2:18:47 at the Chicago Marathon. In 1994, she was recruited into iathletics programme by the Kenya Prisons Service. Ndereba was awarded the 2004 and 2005 Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year awards. She was awarded the Order of the Golden Warrior by Retired President Mwai Kibaki in 2005. 

4,Ednah Kiplagat 

Edna Kiplagat is still an active marathoner with so many accomplishments to her name. She is the 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Champion in the women’s marathon category.

She has established herself as an elite marathon runner with wins at the Los Angeles and New York City Marathons in 2010.

Her personal best for the distance is 2:19.50, set at the London Marathon in 2012. Kiplagat won the 2017 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:21.52. She also won a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in London.

 Later she was second at the 2019 Boston Marathon and 4th at the World Athletics Marathon  Championship. The 42-year-old won the 2021 Bix 7 road race, the Falmouth Road Race and she was placed fourth in the recent Boston Marathon contest.  

5,Vivian Cheruiyot 

The 38-year-old is a former Kenyan long-distance athlete who specialises in track and cross country events. She represented Kenya at the Summer Olympics in 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016.

She won 10,000m bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and a gold medal at the 5000m during the 2016 Olympics, setting the new Olympic record. Cheruiyot won a silver medal in the 5000m at the 2007 World Athletics Championships and became the world champion in the event in the 2009 edition. She replicated this achievement at the 2011 World Championships, where she also won the 10000m.

6,Serena Williams 

It is no secret that American Athlete Serena Williams has dominated the tennis court for the last 20 years. She will go down in history for the impact she has made in the sport. Her Grand Slam wins have earned her a whopping $94 million (Sh10.8 billion) in prize money; twice as much as any other female athlete.

Serena became the first athlete ever to make the Forbes list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women and remained on the list this year with an estimated net worth of $225 million (Shs 25.9 billion). The 40-year-old has the highest number of Grand-Slams (23) in the golden era.  

7, Laila Ali  

Professional boxer Laila-Amaria Ali has an impressive track record. She was undefeated throughout her career. Daughter of the late boxing legend Mohamed Ali, she proved throughout her career that the apple does not fall far from the tree. The 44-year-old retired American boxer is now a TV personality after hanging her gloves to end her nine years career in the ring.

8, Ellen Hoog 

The 36-year-old is a former Dutch field hockey player who inspired her teams to win many games and she has also won medals with those teams. She was part of the Olympic’s Netherlands women hockey team in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 as well as Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In 2008 and 2012, she won a gold medal during the Olympics.

In 2016 still gave an amazing performance and ended up winning the silver medal.  Apart from these accolades, she has also played in different European championship games such as the tournament held in Dublin in 2005 and Manchester in 2007. 

9, Ronda Rousey 

 Ronda Rousey is an American professional wrestler, actress, former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where she performs on the SmackDown brand. She is best known for her time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. 

Ronda Rousey’s net worth is $13 million (Sh1.5 billion), and she is one of the richest Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA) fighters in the world. The 35-year-old is regarded as the very best in her trade today with many belts to her name over her career.

10, Shelly-Ann-Fraser-Pryce 

Olympic sprinting legend Shelly-Ann-Fraser-Pryce has been stunning the world with her blazing speed and recently became the world’s third-fastest woman in 100m events including at Nairobi’s Kip Keino Classic that was held on Saturday. She started her Olympics journey back in 2008 during the Beijing Olympics. She has won 12 gold medals, eight silver, three bronze among other athletics awards from major global championships.