- 3 minutes ago
Witness the awe-inspiring feats that turned extraordinary athletes into sporting icons! Join us as we explore the pivotal moments when female Olympians etched their names into history, breaking records, defying expectations, and showcasing unparalleled resilience on the world's biggest stage. From perfect scores to multi-sport triumphs, these athletes didn't just win; they redefined what was possible for generations to come, creating indelible memories in the annals of athletic greatness.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00You've got the hardware on. How does it feel?
00:02It feels pretty good. It's heavy.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:06And today, we're counting down our picks for the most iconic times
00:09a female summer or winter Olympic athlete moved from a star to a legend with an incredible sporting feat.
00:15All that I get, I realize that what I've done was such a big thing.
00:24Number 10, Alyssa Liu.
00:26How does it feel to be part of American figure skating history?
00:30I mean, wait, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
00:33You did?
00:348.
00:34Yeah.
00:34That's my favorite number.
00:36Since Sarah Hughes' gold in 2002 and Sasha Cohen's silver in 2006,
00:40the U.S. has gone a long time without enjoying a women's single figure skating medal at the Winter Olympics.
00:46Well, in 2026, that all changed thanks to Liu.
00:50Only four years before, she retired from the sport as a teenager.
00:54I was set on a schedule that someone created for me.
00:58Like, my whole life was just skating, and I didn't get any satisfaction from the sport anymore.
01:04I knew that retirement was the only way for me to get out into the world and do more.
01:11After living a normal life for a while, Liu got the skating bug again and came back in big fashion.
01:17After already helping her nation win gold at the team event, the skater took to the rink by herself.
01:22Following a strong short program that put her in third, Liu exceeded all expectations in her incredible free skate,
01:29earning the charismatic Californian and the U.S. the long-overdue gold medal.
01:33They've heard you say that it wasn't about getting the medal that's around your neck,
01:38but no one's going to ever be able to take this title away from you.
01:41So if it wasn't about the medal, how do you want to be remembered in this sport?
01:46What do you want your legacy to be?
01:48I would say my story in it. I hope it's inspiring.
01:54Number nine, Florence Griffith Joyner.
01:57Nearly 40 years ago, Griffith Joyner set multiple world records that still stand to this day.
02:03What is your prediction on this race?
02:05My prediction is that either she's going to set the world record or she's going to do something unbelievable
02:09that everybody else won't believe because all these Germans are behind her
02:14and she's been training ever since November the 1st just to meet her on this day, and this day is
02:18hers.
02:19Following the 1984 Summer Olympics, where she won a silver medal,
02:23the California native massively impressed in the run-up to the 1988 Games.
02:27During the 100-meter U.S. trials, Flojo finished in 10.49 seconds, setting a new record.
02:34If you didn't believe it, I had two more rounds to prove that I could go a fast time.
02:40I came back and ran 10.70 and 10.61, which were both under the world record of 10.76.
02:45And I felt good. People are probably doubting me now.
02:48Can I run 10.49 again? And I do believe that I can.
02:51At the Games, on top of winning gold in the 100-meters individual and the relay,
02:56she smashed not one but two records in the 200-meters.
03:00In the semifinal, she finished first at 21.56 seconds,
03:04setting a new record that she broke in the final with 21.34 seconds.
03:10Sadly, Griffith Joyner passed away far too early in 1998.
03:13However, her incredible legacy won't ever be forgotten.
03:17My records are set to be broken, but as long as I'm physically capable
03:21and mentally focused on breaking a world record, I'm going to try to do it.
03:27Number 8, Chloe Kim.
03:29I was really excited to land my first run.
03:31I really struggled during practice, so it just felt unreal to be able to do that and pull it off.
03:37So I'm honestly, I can't believe it, and I'm just so grateful I was able to do that.
03:42After becoming the first woman snowboarder to win gold at the 2016 Youth Winter Olympics for the U.S.,
03:47collecting two altogether, the pressure was on for Kim as she joined the seniors at the 2018 Games.
03:53Did it get to her? Not at all, as she took gold in the snowboard halfpipe,
03:58becoming the youngest woman to do so at only 17.
04:00What were you feeling when you were holding that gold medal and hearing our national anthem?
04:04I was trying so hard to hold the tears back because I was like, I can't cry right now.
04:09Like, I can't do this. I work so hard on my eyeliner.
04:12At the 2022 event, Kim proved her feats weren't a flash in the pan as she grabbed gold again in
04:18the halfpipe,
04:18becoming the first woman to win it at back-to-back Olympic Games.
04:22While the U.S. snowboarder was unable to do it again at the 2026 Games,
04:26she came close by leaving with a silver medal as her protege, Troy Gaon, took gold.
04:31It's so special. It's such a full-circle moment, and I was genuinely so happy for her.
04:36I think that it's all about the next generation now, you know?
04:40I started out being the youngest one on the start list, and now I feel like I'm one of the
04:44older ones,
04:45so it's kind of weird for me to feel that way.
04:48But no, I think the future of snowboarding is in very, very good hands.
04:51Number 7, Carrie Strug.
04:53A member of the U.S. gymnastics team nicknamed the Magnificent Seven,
04:57Strug is the standout member due to her phenomenal resilience.
05:00Kind of at the end, it was all slipping away, so I decided,
05:05you've trained so hard for this for so long, and you're perfectly capable of doing this vault.
05:09Just gut it together and try one more time.
05:12At the 1998 Olympics, the U.S. was fighting for gold in the women's artistic team all around.
05:18However, disaster struck when Strug tore ankle ligaments while competing in the vault.
05:22You heard it just kind of...
05:24Yeah, after the first vault, I heard it crack, but in gymnastics, you hear a lot of cracks and pops.
05:30Yeah, I just get that all the time.
05:32For most people, they'd go straight to the hospital.
05:35Yet, with Russia closing the gap and looking likely to take gold,
05:39Strug took to the vault once again, despite limping into position.
05:43Incredibly while under immense pain, Strug completed the vault,
05:47securing enough points for the U.S. to win gold before she collapsed.
05:51Her teammates famously refused to celebrate without her,
05:55causing the coach to carry Strug to enjoy their legendary success altogether.
05:59It was great, you know, that I got to join them in the awards ceremony at first.
06:03You know, they thought they were going to take me to the hospital and I wasn't going to be able
06:06to go,
06:07so I was really excited that, you know, I got to go up and receive a gold medal with everyone.
06:12Number 6. Esther Ledecka
06:14Usually an Olympic athlete dedicates themselves to one sport, but not the multi-talented Ledecka.
06:21During the 2018 Winter Games, she was representing her country in alpine skiing and snowboarding.
06:27During the skiing women's Super G, Ledecka achieved a major upset by defeating the defending champion,
06:33Austria's Anna Feit, to take gold.
06:35Even the Czech couldn't believe her triumph.
06:37Reports soon came out that she achieved this despite borrowing skiing equipment from the U.S.'s Michaela Schifrin.
06:43For somebody, anybody, to take the level of ski racing to another level,
06:49it requires a ton of hard work, focus, determination, an incredible amount of athleticism.
06:55And she did that in Lake Louise, and then she did it again here.
07:01That's incredible.
07:02Yet that's not where Ledecka's feats end.
07:04A week later, she took gold once again in the snowboarding women's parallel giant slalom.
07:10This made Ledecka the first ever woman to win gold in two different disciplines at the same Winter Olympics.
07:15It was a nice day, I enjoyed everything.
07:20I really didn't even have to say that I was waiting for it.
07:26Because the couple of days I was here today, I couldn't get to it.
07:32But today, I was waiting for it.
07:33It was a great time.
07:35I managed to drive and I'm happy with it.
07:40I feel like even now, I don't understand the full capacity of what I did at the real Olympic Games.
07:47I think it won't hit me until I may be retired from the sport, which is crazy.
07:52Nowadays, we all know Biles is one of the greatest athletes of all time.
07:56And her journey to becoming the most decorated gymnast ever began at the 2016 Games.
08:01Making an Olympic debut that any athlete would be jealous of,
08:05Biles grabbed four golds in the women's artistic team all around,
08:09the individual all around, the vault, and the floor,
08:12as well as a bronze in the balance beam.
08:14Only one American woman has ever won gold on the vault.
08:18Only one American has won four golds in gymnastics in a single game.
08:23That would be this young lady, Simone Biles.
08:26Due to the astonishing achievement, among several records,
08:30she became the first U.S. woman to win four gold medals in women's gymnastics at a single Olympics.
08:36On top of that, she was a quadruple gold medalist
08:39alongside gymnastic legends like Larissa Latinina and Vida Chaslavska.
08:44I like pushing boundaries and I like being scared.
08:48And I want to see how much I'm capable of before I retire one day.
08:53I want to see how much I can achieve.
08:54Number 4. Kaori Icho
08:56When the time comes to create a Mount Rushmore for freestyle Olympic wrestlers,
09:19Icho will be a shoo-in for it.
09:21After all, alongside being a 10-time world champion and being undefeated for 13 years,
09:27the Japanese behemoth broke an overlooked record at the Olympics.
09:30At the 2004 Games, Icho won a gold medal at the women's freestyle 63-kilogram event.
09:36She repeated this success at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
09:41At the 2016 Games, Icho dropped down a weight class to 58 kilograms.
09:46Yet, regardless of the change, she still managed to take gold.
09:49As such, this made Icho the first woman to win gold at four consecutive Olympic individual events.
09:56The reality has not sunk in yet.
09:58And when I think about what I actually managed to achieve,
10:02I am ecstatic.
10:03I am extremely proud and happy.
10:05Number 3. Nadia Komanec
10:07One thing I wanted to ask for, she's the youngest girl to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games.
10:12Where does she go from here?
10:13What about...
10:14Making her debut at 14 at the 1976 Games,
10:18Komanec incredibly won three golds, one silver, and one bronze in gymnastic events.
10:23Yet, this wasn't what wrote her name in Olympics lore.
10:26During the women's team all around,
10:28she did what was thought impossible when she achieved a perfect 10 during the compulsory uneven bars.
10:33The scoreboards weren't even programmed to show 10.
10:36That's how much it was believed to be unachievable.
10:39Making Komanec the first woman gymnast to reach this lofty height.
10:42At the beginning, I look at the scoreboard and
10:44one didn't look like a very good score to me.
10:48And then I look around to some of my teammates and
10:51one of them made me a sign that's a 10, but they cannot show it.
10:55I don't think you realize what happened at the time when you were 14.
11:03Yet, Komanec wasn't done with this at the same Games.
11:06Altogether, the Romanian gymnast received seven 10 scores in various rounds.
11:11In 2006, the International Gymnastics Federation changed its scoring system to remove a perfect 10 possibility,
11:18making Komanec's feet impossible to replicate.
11:20I didn't come here to Montreal to make history.
11:23I didn't even know what that meant.
11:25to make history.
11:26Nobody told me that a perfect 10 was never scored in Olympic history.
11:31So I just went to do whatever I planned to do and whatever I trained to do.
11:36Number 2, Marit Björgin.
11:38Ten years from now, what is Marit Björgin doing?
11:41Oh, I don't know, actually.
11:45I'm looking forward to living a normal life.
11:49As normal as a famous skier, I can live.
11:51Yeah.
11:51After winning 18 World Championships alongside a phenomenal Winter Olympic career,
11:56Björgin arrived at the 2018 Games knowing it would be her last before hanging up her skis.
12:02Yet there's going out on a high and what she did.
12:06At the event, she collected two golds, one silver, and two bronzes.
12:10Since making her debut at the 2006 Olympics and beginning to win medals at the 2010 event,
12:16she'd amassed a stunning eight golds, four silvers, and three bronze medals, giving Björgin 15 altogether.
12:22This made the skier the most decorated winter male and female Olympian of all time.
12:27It also placed her third behind Michael Phelps and Larissa Latinina as the most decorated summer and winter Olympians.
12:34I didn't dream about it, really.
12:37But to sitting here now and think about everything I've done, it's incredible.
12:41Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
12:46Alice Coachman.
12:47After grabbing high jump gold, Coachman became the first black woman to achieve the feat.
12:52The officials came over and told me, Mr. Coachman, come on, go to the polo.
12:59I didn't know what was going on.
13:01I went on, stood up there, and they started playing their national anthem.
13:09It was wonderful to hear.
13:13Kathy Freeman.
13:14The barrier-breaking indigenous Australian took gold when her country hosted the Games.
13:19Something like this, but, you know, coming to a little girl like me, it's just, I've got to grow up
13:25sometime, I suppose.
13:27You carried both flags very proudly to make sure.
13:29Yeah, very proud indigenous Australian, and, I mean, I'm just going to relax now and enjoy myself.
13:40Canada Women's Curling Team.
13:42Taking gold by becoming the first women's team to go through the Olympics undefeated.
13:46It was so slowly unraveling, and then all of a sudden it was, like, happening, and I knew it, and
13:50it was great.
13:51It was amazing.
13:52Fu Yanhui.
13:53The Chinese swimmer's honesty about periods when winning bronze changed the landscape.
13:59It's okay, you've already been in the best shape, and you've already developed your best shape.
14:02Is it really good?
14:05Because I've already come to the Olympics, so I'm still a bit tired, but I'm still a bit tired.
14:11But this is not the reason.
14:13I'm still a bit tired.
14:14Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest
14:20videos.
14:21You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
14:26If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
14:31Number 1. Katie Ledecky.
14:33Breaking one world record is an incredible achievement for an athlete.
14:37So what does it mean if they've smashed 17 so far in a decorated career?
14:42Well, you get Ledecky.
14:43To me, I could do the sport without the competitions.
14:47I love it that much.
14:48That's how much you love it.
14:49I just love it when I can spend most of my day at the pool.
14:52At the 2024 event, the U.S. swimmer added more to her unmatched legacy.
14:57There, Ledecky added two gold medals, including defending her women's 800-meter freestyle gold for the fourth time.
15:03One silver and one bronze.
15:06I have to imagine.
15:06Is your neck starting to hurt?
15:08I'm getting used to it.
15:10My neck's getting stronger, for sure.
15:12With that, since making her Olympic debut in 2012, she'd now accumulated nine golds, four silvers, and one bronze in
15:19her career, making her the games' most successful woman swimmer ever.
15:23Amazingly, eight of her golds were for individual events, causing Ledecky to have the most out of all women, a
15:29record that Vera Chaslevska had held for 56 years.
15:33So if you're your main competitor, what is your next goal for you?
15:36What are you trying to beat of her?
15:38Well, I haven't set my next goal quite yet, but I know I will pretty soon.
15:42What legendary moment from female Olympians did we miss from the video?
15:46Let us know below.
Comments