It’s no coincidence that interest levels in women’s sports have gone up as much as they have throughout the social media era. Where once, female sports stars relied upon more traditional outlets to spread their messages - now they have huge audiences at their fingertips. Women’s sports always had an issue with visibility but that cannot be said anymore.

Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey

An American MMA star that has pivoted in many different directions in her career. She made her Olympic debut in 2004 for the US judo team in Athens, Greece. She later won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games in the women's middleweight judo event.

Her interest in MMA developed after training with future MMA stars Manny Gamburyan and Karo Parisyan. She was the first female fighter to be signed to the UFC, quickly becoming the top star in women's MMA.

In 2012, she became the first UFC female champion. She changed courses once again, announcing in January of 2018 that she would be joining WWE as a professional wrestler. With 15 million followers, more than Serena Williams, she has to be considered one of the most influential sports stars of all time.

Liv Boeree

A very intelligent person, with a first class degree in astrophysics. She combined both her scientific background with her love for games to become one of the biggest poker stars in the world. She has both European Poker Tour and World Series of Poker titles, she's also managed to win more than $3.5 million playing on the international circuit.

After retiring from professional poker in 2018, Boeree focuses her time on education - inspiring young people with stoic and rational thinking techniques she has learned throughout her career in poker and through Effective Altruism. With a following of 141k followers on Instagram, she has the perfect vehicle to do so.

Serena Williams

Probably the most famous female sports star globally. Serena Williams is an American tennis player. Serena and sister Venus started playing tennis with their father who recognised their huge potential early on.

She turned professional in 1995, one year later than her sister Venus. Known for her huge power and incredible athleticism, the sisters dominated women's tennis.

Serena bagged herself six U.S. Open titles, three French Opens, seven Australian Opens and an incredible seven Wimbledon championships. Leaving her total with 23 Grand Slam titles, the most for any woman or man throughout the Open era. She also competed in the Olympics, winning gold medals in the singles in 2012 and with her sister in women's doubles in 2000, 2008 and 2012.

Serena is an icon in many women’s eyes. A mother, serial winner and business owner who has always spoken out about the problems women face in society and sport. With a total of 14.6 million followers, she is an icon to sports fans the world over.

Alex Morgan

American soccer star, fifth in the list of all-time top scorers for the USA women's national team - Alex Morgan helped revolutionise the women's game. She won two Women's World Cups in 2015 and then 2019, as well as helping herself to a gold medal at the Olympic Games in London 2012 and a bronze at Tokyo 2020.

A personable character, with bags of charisma - Morgan would become one of the highest earning female soccer players in the world. She's been a vocal leader in the fight against wage discrimination, using her voice to put pressure on the US Soccer Federation. With 9.4 million followers, her voice is huge.

Simone Biles

Widely considered to be one of sport's greatest athletes. She became the first female U.S gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games in Rio 2016. She was also the first gymnast to win three consecutive world all-around titles.

A victim of US national gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar, Simone has used her voice in the fight for better treatment and safer conditions for young athletes.

Not long after announcing herself as a victim of Nassar, she announced that she would be returning to competition at the 2018 US national championships.

She became the first female gymnast in over 20 years to win all five events, including a record fifth all-around title. She also became the most-decorated female gymnast in the history of the world championships. Her seven Olympic medals tie her with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. With her 6.6 million IG followers, she has a place to use her voice and she does exactly that.

 

 

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