Female Athletes

I hope you've been following the tournament. There have already been some big upsets—Ana Ivanovic was dispatched yesterday, and Maria Sharapova went out in the second round. Perennial favorites remain, however, and Venus Williams (the best athlete on the tour) once again looks healthy and focused, so watch out. Little sister Serena is still in and looks to be playing well, too. Or this might be Nicole Vaidisova's year to overcome the mental breakdowns that have plagued her in the past and live up to her physical potential, which probably rivals that of Venus and Serena.

Wimbledon.org is the best place to get results, highlights, and player information (I especially like the My Wimbledon feature). For those of us who are primarily interested in the women's game, Women's Tennis Blog is a good resource as well.

This isn't Candace Parker's first dunk (she's been dunking at least since high school), but it no doubt is a special one:



Courtesy of Current.

Indeed they can. (The football trainer gets that much right anyway.) As promised, part two of the Al Jazeera report:

This Al Jazeera piece about Muslim female athletes is fascinating, and it features some truly amazing women:



I'll post the second half next week.

She explains in this recent interview for CombatWire. You may remember Felice from Fight Girls.

Here bodybuilder and strongwoman Kathy Bertram snaps a baseball bat:



Impressive, huh? Kathy performs her feats of strength as part of a Christian ministry, and there's no question that she is remarkably strong—so strong that it's almost enough to make a believer out of a heathen like me.

Gina Carano was overweight—4 1/2 pounds over the limit—and not in her best fighting shape, but she managed to defeat a dangerous (and quite game) Kaitlin Young anyway, the fight stopped at the end of the second round because of swelling under Kaitlin's left eye. Gina thus remains undefeated in MMA with a 6-0 record (her Muay Thai record is 12-1-1).

Gina continues to amaze me. I was a little worried about this fight, and it turns out rightfully so: she couldn't make weight and was visibly winded at times. But Gina has an innate gift, one that came through for her Saturday night: the power to strike hard, so hard that she damages an opponent virtually whenever she connects with a punch or kick. This is not something that you can be taught; you're pretty much born with it.

Soon, though, Gina will have to make a decision. She already has a lot going on, and even more opportunities await her. Besides being a great athlete, she is beautiful, articulate, camera-friendly, and charismatic, and her star is rising. But eventually something will have to be left behind because she can't do everything else and continue to compete at this level; MMA is just too demanding (maybe the most demanding sport there is). I think Gina knows—especially after Saturday's fight—that sometime soon, though probably not just yet, she will have to decide how important MMA is to her and how much of the other should or should not be sacrificed for it.