{"id":46122,"date":"2015-12-07T18:30:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T23:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=46122"},"modified":"2021-11-18T06:57:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T11:57:34","slug":"espnw-female-athletes-superheroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/espnw-female-athletes-superheroes\/","title":{"rendered":"13 Female Athletes Who Are Real-Life Superheroes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"13<\/a>
Photo: espnW<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Who needs Wonder Woman when you\u2019ve got mega-talented athletes like Serena Williams to serve as your daily dose of \u201cyou-go-girl\u201d inspiration on and off the field?<\/p>\n

From a 14-year-old snowboarder who became the youngest X-Games gold medalist to a modern-day female Babe Ruth who\u2019s smashing softball records, these 13 accomplished athletes are honored by espnW today. Best of all, each super lady is depicted in custom illustrations created in collaboration with Marvel Comics.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Fitstagrammies: The 30 Best Fitness Pros to Follow on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

The athletes below represent only a fraction of espnW\u2019s annual IMPACT25 list, which includes even more inspiring women. \u201cWe wanted to dive deeper this year,\u201d says espnW founder Laura Gentile, who notes that this list is especially unique because it also includes additional influencers like Lauren Greenfield, the filmmaker behind the viral #playlikeagirl<\/a> commercial. \u201cThese are women with super abilities,\u201d says Gentile, \u201c[The Marvel art] is not really fictionalized\u2026each drawing is meant to accentuate what they already do.\u201d<\/p>\n

We dare you not to be inspired by these incredible women and their accomplishments. With grit, speed, strength and athleticism, they\u2019re shattering expectations and showing us that playing like a girl means you\u2019re playing like the best in the world.<\/p>\n

13 Real-Life Female Superheroes <\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Simone
Photo: espnW\/Marvel and Kevin Wada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Simone Biles
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Swinging from bars with the greatest of ease. Eighteen-year-old Biles is the first African-American gymnast to win three consecutive all-around world titles, and she holds the record for the most gold medals won by a female gymnast in the history of the World Championships. NBD!<\/p>\n

2. Tamika Catchings
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Goes hard in the paint. This 10-time WNBA All-Star has won world championships at every level. Between that and three Olympic gold medals, she\u2019s probably got a serious trophy case at home.<\/p>\n

3. Lauren Chamberlain
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Hits grand slams with gusto. Chamberlain broke records this year by hitting 91 home runs in her softball career at the University of Oklahoma. Hot. Damn.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The 20 Most Inspiring Runners in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Misty
Photo: espnW\/Marvel and Annie Wu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Misty Copeland
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Pirouettes with power. She\u2019s the face of an Under Armour<\/a> campaign and the first black principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater. Plus, her muscled physique is busting conventions about what it means to have a \u201cballerina bod.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Elena Delle Donne
\n<\/strong>Superpower: <\/strong>Shoots hoops like nobody\u2019s business. This WNBA star had three 40-point games this year while playing with the Chicago Sky. Oh yeah, and she also battled Lyme Disease<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n

6. Erica Enders
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Too fast, too furious. Enders won nine NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) races last year, breaking a record for the most wins by a woman in one season.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> NHRA Drag Racing: Strength and Speed Behind the Wheel<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Chloe
Photo: espnW\/Marvel and Rachelle Rosenberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

7. Chloe Kim
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Throws down mad tricks. This 14-year-old snowboarder became the youngest gold medalist in a winter X-Games event when she made it to the top of the podium in superpipe last year.<\/p>\n

8. Lydia Ko
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Swings strong on the green. Tiger Woods was 21 when he was first ranked number one by the PGA, but Ko nabbed that honor from the LGPA at the tender age of 17! Talk about precocious.<\/p>\n

\"Katie
Photo: espnW\/Marvel and Jeff Dekal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

9. Katie Ledecky
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Dives in full-force. This freestyle swimmer certainly made a splash at the 2015 FINA (Federation International de Natation) World Championships \u2014 she came home with three world records and five gold medals.<\/p>\n

10. Carli Lloyd
\n<\/strong>Superpower: <\/strong>Scores next-level hat-tricks. This soccer star became the first person to score three goals in a Women\u2019s World Cup final during U.S.A.\u2019s victory over Japan this summer.<\/p>\n

11. Olivia Quigley
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Sprints \u2018till the end. A stage-four breast cancer diagnosis couldn\u2019t slow this autistic sprinter. At the Special Olympics World Games, she prevailed to win two gold medals and a silver medal.<\/p>\n

\"Ronda
Photo: espnW\/Marvel \/ Katie Niemczyk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

12. Ronda Rousey
\n<\/strong>Superpower: <\/strong>Fierce MMA fighting. We wouldn\u2019t want to meet her in a dark alley, but we are psyched she was the UFC\u2019s highest paid fighter (male or female) this past September.<\/p>\n

13. Serena Williams
\n<\/strong>Superpower:<\/strong> Serves up greatness. She\u2019s no one-hit wonder\u2014Williams continues to blow us away by dominating on the tennis court. Unbeatable no matter the surface, she made the WTA (Women\u2019s Tennis Association) top ten lists for clay, grass and hard courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Need a good old dose of girl-power-fueled motivation to get you to the gym? We dare you not to be inspired by espnW\u2019s list of game-changing female athletes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,6],"tags":[209,103,341,357],"class_list":["post-46122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exercise","category-fitness","tag-athlete","tag-motivation","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2running"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}