Comments | secretsolitaire: 14 Valentines, Day 9

secretsolitaire

14 Valentines, Day 9

Feb 09, 2009 22:14

Today's topic at 14valentines is athletics.

Today I've put together a pic spam of my all-time favorite female athletes. I could easily do a post composed entirely of figure skaters, since that's my favorite sport, but I tried to be a bit more inclusive. :-)

( Cut for large images and a video )

pic spam, 14valentines

Comments 14

morebliss February 10 2009, 06:10:04 UTC

My two favs are Valerie Vili (NZ shot-putter) and Dinara Safina.

secretsolitaire February 11 2009, 01:28:02 UTC

Ooh, I've never heard of Vili -- is shot putting a pretty popular sport there? What do you like about her?

absynthedrinker February 10 2009, 13:23:17 UTC

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secretsolitaire February 11 2009, 01:28:43 UTC

Ooh, good choice! Mia Hamm is awesome.

I adore that ad. *happy sigh*

jule1122 February 10 2009, 18:22:13 UTC

I wasn't watching much gymnastics by 96, but I always like Dominique Dawes. I don't even know where to start with Ekaterina Gordeeva. We went to the show in Hartford and it was just how you described it. So heartbreaking but beautiful. I still can't think about Sergie without crying.

secretsolitaire February 11 2009, 01:29:37 UTC

OMG, I can't believe you were actually at that show! That must have been amazing. I was crying my eyes out watching at home. :-(

woldy February 10 2009, 18:36:35 UTC

Martina Navratilova for being the fittest, strongest woman I've ever seen (even playing doubles at Wimbledon in 2006 at nearly 50) and 'cos she was my first crush.
Also the English runners Kelly Holmes & Paula Radciffe for being so strong in the face of injury and press criticism, for being anti-doping and because Paula managed the incredible feat of winning international races at distances from 5000m to a marathon.

secretsolitaire February 11 2009, 01:34:04 UTC

Martina is awesome. Her prime playing days were before my time, but I have seen her play a bit of doubles and she truly is ridiculously fit for her age (or any age, really).

Paula Radcliffe is a familiar name to me -- did she run a marathon in a recent Olympics? I seem to recall watching her finish a race with a major injury, or an illness...or did she fail to finish? If she's the person I'm thinking of, she was in a ridiculous amount of pain and looked absolutely dreadful.

woldy February 11 2009, 02:41:10 UTC

Yes, that sounds like Paula in Athens or Beijing, though she has good days too as evidenced by being the world record holder for the women's marathon. Her first ever marathon was in London in 2002 & she ran what was then the second fastest time in the world, completely alone and far ahead of the nearest person.

secretsolitaire February 12 2009, 01:32:30 UTC

I think I'm probably remembering Athens -- the timeframe seems about right. It's such a shame when athletes are injured at the Olympics and can't do what they've trained for years to do.

kata_ny February 10 2009, 23:27:45 UTC

oh dear.i so don't have the time to (make a mini post into your post)
but here is one of my absolute favourite.
Karolina Kluft.swedish athlete.hepthtatlon.
LOVE her and her will power and guts to the moon and back.

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secretsolitaire February 11 2009, 01:51:09 UTC

Never heard of Karolina Kluft, so thanks for the pics. She looks very formidable. *licks bicep*

I would love to chat figure skating with you sometime! My all-time favorite program of Michelle Kwan's was the Rachmaninoff one she used as her 1998 short program. The music, the choreography, everything is just brilliant. Let me see if I can find it on YouTube...ah. Here we go.

*rewatches*

How amazing is that spiral sequence near the end, when the music reaches its climax? That makes me cry!