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History of Women in Sports Timeline - 2005
"We talk about the wins and the trophies, but it's all about the people.
The players have influenced me more than I have influenced them.''
- Tennesse Lady Vol's coach Pat Summitt on her record-breaking 880th win.
- 2005 - The World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame inducts Catherine Machado, the first Hispanic figure skater to represent the United States at the Olympic Winter Games, the first to be a member of the World Team and the first to be a U.S. champion (junior, 1954). During her illustrious career, Machado earned the bronze medal twice at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships (1955, 1956); finished sixth at the 1956 World Championships; and placed eighth overall, third in the free skate, at the 1956 Olympic Winter Games.
- 2005 - Russian Elena Dementieva defeats Venus Williams 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match of the Hong Kong Champions Challenge.
- 2005 - Michelle Kwan, 24, captures her ninth United States Figure Skating Championship title, tying Maribel Vinson Owen for most national titles won. Owen, who won nine titles between 1928 and 1937, died in the 1961 plane crash that killed the United States figure skating team.
- 2005 - Mary Saxer, Lancaster, NY, sets new national high school pole vaulting records, becoming the first high school girl to clear 14 feet either indoors or outdoors, with a successful attempt at 4.27m/14-0 feet.
- 2005 - Serena Williams, 23, defeats Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 for the Australian Open women's final for her second Australian Open and seventh Grand Slam singles title.
- 2005 - Olympic gold medalist Angela Ruggiero makes hockey history, becoming the first female non-goaltender to play in a men’s professional hockey game, while playing 13 shifts for the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. The 2004 Patty Kazmaier Award winner drew an assist on the Oilers’ final goal in the team’s 7-2 victory. In another first, she and her brother, Bill, the Oilers’ goaltender, become the first brother-sister pair to play in a North American professional game.
- 2005 - Jolene Moore sets a new race-walk championship record of 6:51.19 at the USA 1 Mile Race Walk Championship at the Bucknell Bison Open. Deb Huberty takes second, with Maria Michta, the 2003 USATF youth 5,000m young women's champion, coming in third.
- 2005 - The United States Olympic Committee announces that the USA Softball Women’s Olympic team is the 2004 "Team of the Year" for their perfect 9-0 performance on the field and third consecutive gold medal.
- 2005 - February 9th marks the 19th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The 2005 theme is More than a Game.
- 2005 - According to the latest NCAA gender equity report, women accounted for 44% of the athletes at NCAA Division I colleges in 2002-03. In Division II, women's participation rose from 39 to 40%, and in Division III from 40 to 42%. When the first survey was done in 1991, D I women's participation was 31%, Division II was 32% and Division III was 35%.
- 2005 - Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova beats top-ranked Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5) to win the Pan Pacific Open.
- 2005 - The St. Louis Steamers of the Major Indoor Soccer League sign Lindsay Kennedy to a five-game contract, making her the league’s first female player.
- 2005 - Erika Arriaran is named the 2005 State Farm/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School Player of the Year. The Norco High School, CA, student was a member of the gold-medal-winning 2004 USA Basketball women's junior world championship team.
- 2005 - Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva breaks her own indoor pole vault record, clearing 16 feet, ½ inch.
- 2005 - Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova defeats Alicia Molik 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to win the Qatar Open.
- 2005 - Jennifer Rosales wins the inaugural SBS Open with a 1-over-par 73 at the Palmer Course, Hawaii, for her second LPGA title.
- 2005 - Sweden's Anna-Karin Kammerling wins the FINA World Cup women’s overall swimming title.
- 2005 - Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport beats Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the Dubai Women’s Open for her 46th career WTA Tour title.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam wins the inaugural MasterCard Classic in Mexico for her first LPGA Tour win of the year.
- 2005 - Becky Sisley of Eugene, OR, sets a world record in the 65-69 age group in the indoor pole vault at an open meet at the University of Washington. Sisley, a master’s track-and-field athlete, clears 7 feet, 4 ¼ inches to break Mary Bradford’s (TX) previous record of 6-6 ¼. Sisley also ran in the 60-meter hurdles and competed in the high jump.
- 2005 - 14-year-old Mao Asada of Japan wins the world junior figure skating title in Ontario with Yu Na-Kim of South Korea earning the silver and Emily Hughes of the United States taking bronze.
- 2005 - The Team USA women defeat Germany 1-0 to win their third straight Algarve Cup on a Christie Welsh goal.
- 2005 - Kim Clijsters, 21, wins her second Pacific Life Open in three years by defeating Lindsay Davenport, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
- 2005 - 30-year old Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, NY, becomes the first woman to advance to the championship round of a PBA event by defeating Richard Wolfe in a quarterfinal match at the 2005 PBA Banquet Open.
- 2005 - Russia's Irina Sltskaya wins the gold at the world figure skating championships; American Sasha Cohen wins the silver and Italy's Caroline Kostner wins the bronze.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam wins her 58th LPGA victory in the Safeway International.
- 2005 - Tennessee Lady Vol's coach Pat Summitt, 52, earns her 880th win, becoming the winningest NCAA basketball coach of all time. In her honor, the university announced the court at Thompson-Boling Arena will be named "The Summitt.'' This victory puts Summitt ahead of former North Carolina men's coach Dean Smith for the most victories in NCAA history. Summitt has 879-171 in 31 years, while Smith was 879-254 in 36 years with the Tar Heels.
- 2005 - Val Ackerman, the founding president of the WNBA, is been named the president of USA Basketball for 2005-08. Ackerman had served eight seasons as president of the WNBA.
- 2005 - The University of Minnesota (36-2-2) defeats Harvard 4-3 to win its second straight NCAA women’s hockey championship. Golden Gopher forward Krissy Wendell is named the 2005 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner. The two-time All-American became only the second woman in school history to tally more than 100 points in a single season. The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is presented annually to the top player in Division I women’s ice hockey.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam, 34, wins her third Kraft Nabisco Championship by 8 strokes, finishing with a 15-under-par 273, and winning her her fifth consecutive LPGA Tour tournament, tying Nancy Lopez's 27- year-old record. This is Sorenstam's 59th LPGA victory and the eighth major of her career.
- 2005 - Kim Clijsters defeats Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-5 to win the Nasdaq-100 Open.
- 2005 - The Supreme Court rules 5-4 in favor of whistleblowers who speak out against discrimination in school sports in a case brought by Roderick Jackson, a high school basketball coach. He sued his Alabama high school after he was fired for complaining about unequal facilities for his team. The Supreme Court rules that coaches and teachers may sue for retaliation if they are fired for complaining on behalf of others.
- 2005 - Baylor University defeats Michigan State by 84-62 at the RCA Dome for the NCAA women's basketball D-I title game. Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson is the first persons to win a women's national championship both as a player and a coach. She also has a gold medal from the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- 2005 - 34-year-old Becky Zerlentes becomes the first woman to die of injuries sustained in a sanctioned boxing match in the United States during a Golden Glove event. Zerlentes won the Colorado Golden Gloves title in 2002; this was her retirement bout since USA Boxing does not sanction bouts for women after age 34. The organization lifted its ban on women boxers in 1993 and currently has 2,200 women registered.
- 2005 - Lindsay Davenport defeats Silvia Farina Elia 7-5, 7-5 to win her third Bausch & Lomb Championship (and 47th career title), becoming the first player to earn more than $1 million in 2005.
- 2005 - Louisiana State’s Seimone Augustus wins the John R. Wooden Award, given annually to college basketball’s best male and female players. The junior forward has won every prestigious national award this season, including the Naismith Trophy, the Associated Press Player of the Year Award and the State Farm Wade Trophy.
- 2005 - Kenyan Catherine Ndereba, 32, becomes the first woman to win the Boston Marathon four times in a time of 2:25:13.
- 2005 - Wendy Ward wins the Takefuji Classic with a 5-under 67, the fourth win of her career.
- 2005 - Paula Radcliffe sets a new woman’s-only record at the London Marathon, finishing in 2:17:42, beating her own record of 2:18:56 from 2002.
- 2005 - Mary Garber becomes the first woman to win the Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award, presented annually since 1981 for major contributions to sports journalism. Garber has won more than 40 writing awards and is a member of the North Carolina Hall of Fame and the Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. The Association for Women in Sports Media presents an annual Mary Garber Pioneer Award honoring a role model for women in sports media.
- 2005 - Russia's Larissa Malikova wins the Madrid Marathon with a new record time of 2:33:27; Spain's Sonia Martin and Luna Garcia-Miguel finish in second and third place.
- 2005 - The British PGA appoints its first woman captain after 104 years when Beverly Lewis is tapped to be an abassador for the PGA, representing the membership at official functions and major golf events.
- 2005 - Justine Henin-Hardenne beats Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the J&S Cup final for her 21st career title.
- 2005 - Justine Henin-Hardenne defeats Russia’s Nadia Petrova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to win the German Open, extending her winning streak to 17 matches.
- 2005 - Stanford wins the women’s college rugby championship by defeating Penn State.
- 2005 - Amelie Mauresmo beats Patty Schnyder 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to defend her Italian Open tennis title.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam wins her 60th career title at the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship. She is currently third on the all-time LPGA career victories list behind Kathy Whitworth (88) and Mickey Wright (82).
- 2005 - Indy Racing League rookie Danica Patrick becomes the fourth woman in history to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, finishing fourth in the qualifying pole. Janet Guthrie became the first woman to race in the Indy 500 in 1977.
- 2005 - NC's Duke wins the NCAA women's Golf Championship for their thrid victory of the last seven titles. UCLA finishes in second place.
- 2005 - The Northwestern Wildcats beat defending champion Virginia 13-10 to win the NCAA lacrosse championship, finishing the season undefeated in its fourth season as a varsity sport.
- 2005 - Katie Brownell, an 11-year-old girl in the Oakfield-Alabama Little League in upstate New York, pitches a perfect game for the Dodgers, stricking out all 18 batters she faced in the six-inning game. She is the only girl playing in the league.
- 2005 - 18-year-old Paula Creamer becomes the second-youngest first-time winner on the LPGA Tour with her victory in the Sybase Classic.
- 2005 - Danica Patrick, 23, finishes fourth in the Indianapolis 500, leading the race until just eight laps to go, the best finish ever for a woman in Indy 500 history.
- 2005 - Laleh Kashavarz and Farkhondeh Sadegh become the first Muslim women to climb Mount Everest on May 30 and the 101st and 102nd women to complete the mountain.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam, 34, wins her third ShopRite LPGA Classic and her 61st LPGA victory.
- 2005 - Justine Henin-Hardenne wins her second French Open against Mary Pierce.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam, 34, defeats the 15-year-old Michelle Wie to win the final round of the L.P.G.A. Championship. Wie becomes the first amateur to play in an L.P.G.A. Championship.
The winner's purse pushes Sorenstam's career earnings to more than $17 million.
- 2005 Michigan becomes the first school east of Mississippi to win a NCAA softball championship title, beating the UCLA Bruins 4-1. Michigan is one of only five teams in NCAA history to hit 100 home runs in a season.
- 2005 - The USA Softball wins its fifth consecutive world championship, beating Australia 9-0. The U.S. women’s team has won seven world titles.
- 2005 - The New York Road Runners, organizers of the New York City Marathon, announce they will award its women's champion $30,000 more than its men's winner for the Novermber 2005 race. The $130,000 for the women's champion in November's race will be the biggest first prize for any marathon.This may be the first time a sports event pays more to a woman than a man in the same competition.
- 2005 - Birdie Kim, 24, becomes just the third Korean to win a major championship with her win at the US Open, earning $560,000, the biggest payoff in women's golf.
- 2005 - Venus Williams defeats Lindsay Davenport after the longest Wimbledon women’s final match on record: 2 hours and 45 minutes.
- 2005 - Stanford’s Ogonna Nnamani wins the Honda-Broderick Cup as the NCAA woman athlete of the year. An outside hitter on the volleyball team, she tallied 823 kills during the season and was a member of the Olympic women’s volleyball team in Athens.
- 2005 - Colombia's Marisa Baena wins her first LPGA Tour at the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship tournament, earning $500,000.
- 2005 - Russiaian Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva, 23, sets a new women's pole vault record at the 4.93 meters, her 14th time breaking the record.
- 2005 - US Women's Soccer team member Tiffany Milbrett becomes the sixth woman to score 100 international goals in a 7-0 win over the Urkraine.
- 2005 - The Australian national softball team beat Team USA 3-0 for the gold medal in Canada Cup gold medal round, breaking Team USA's 85-game winning streak.
- 2005 - The International Olympic Committee axed softball and baseball from the 2012 Gmes in London, the first sports to be cut in 69 years since polo was eliminated in 1936.
- 2005 - The 13th Annual ESPY Awards winners included Cat Osterman, Best Female College Athlete; Annika Sorenstam, Best Female Athlete; Team USA Softball, Best Female Athletic Performance; Maria Sharipova, Best Female Tennis Player; and swimmer Erin Popovich, Best Female Athlete with a Disability.
- 2005 - 18-year-old rookie Paula Creamer beat out teenager Michelle Wie by eight shots to win the Evian Masters golf tournament in France, earning $375,000 for her first-place win, putting her second on the 2005 money list behind Annika Sorenstam.
- 2005 - Japan defeated the Olympic gold-medal-winning U.S. team 3-1 in the championship game of the inaugural World Cup of Softball.
- 2005 - The U.S. women’s under-21 soccer team wins its seventh consecutive Nordic Cup against rival Norway, 4-1.
- 2005 - Seattle Storm coach Anne Donovan becomes the first female WNBA coach to reach 100 victories.
- 2005 - Kim Clijsters defeats Venus Williams in the Bank of the West Classic title match.
- 2005 - Dominique Dawes, whose career began when she was 6, is inducted into the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame
- 2005 - Kim Clijsters defeats Justine Henin-Hardenne 7-5, 6-1, at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
- 2005 - Maria Sharapova becomes the first player from Russia to be ranked No. 1 and the 15th in the history of World Team Tennis since it began its rankings in 1975.
- 2005 - Cristie Kerr wins the Wendy's Championship for Children, beating Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer for her second win this year and sixth overall.
- 2005 - Kim Clijsters, 22, earned $2.2 million, the biggest winner’s check in women’s sports history, with her women's final win at the U.S. Open title over Mary Pierce 6-3, 6-1. It is her first Grand Slam title.
- 2005 - 2004 Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor win their second Association of Volleyball Professionals Open women’s title and the 2005 overall women's championship.
- 2005 - U.S. Solheim Cup team (Paula Creamer, Laura Diaz, Juli Inkster, Christina Kim and and Pat Hurst) defeats the European team 15-1/2 to 12-1/2 in the premier event in women’s professional golf. The United States leads Europe 6-3 overall in the nine Solheim Cups played since the competition’s introduction in 1990.
- 2005 - Lindsey Davenport wins the Wismilak International in Bali, Indonesia, deafeating Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-4.
- 2005 - Comets forward Sheryl Swoopes is named as the 2005 WNBA Most Valuable Player.
- 2005 - Germany’s Regina Schleicher takes the gold medal in the women’s road race event at the world cycling championships.
- 2005 - Russians Maria Kirilenko, ranked No. 45, defeats Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3, 6-4, winning her first WTA Tour title at the Chicago Open.
- 2005 - Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi, Japan, wins the Berlin marathon in 2:19:12, setting the third-fastest women’s marathon time .
- 2005 - In the first-ever India-Pakistan women’s cricket series, India scores a 33-run victory over the host Pakistani team.
- 2005 - Danica Patrick earns the Bombardier Rookie of the Year at the inaugural Indy Grand Prix.
- 2005 - Kim Clijsters wins her eighth tennis title of the year at the Luxembourg Open. defeating Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 6-4.
- 2005 - Lindsay Davenport, 29, earns her 50th career tennis title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Amelie Mauresmo at the Porsche Grand Prix, becoming the 10th player to reach that milestone.
- 2005 - Russia's Olga Kapranova wins her fourth individual all-around title at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, scoring a total of 66.350 points in four exercises - the rope, ball, clubs and ribbon.
- 2005 - The Figure Skating Channel, launched by U.S. Figure Skating and MediaZone.com, becomes the first-ever broadband figure skating channel. World-wide fans can watch into a whole season of selected live competitions from juvenile to adult levels.
- 2005 - Sasha Cohen wins the 2005 Campbell’s International Figure Skating Classic.
- 2005 - Mary Pierce wins her second Kremlin Cup, defeating Italy's Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-3. She first won the Kremlin Cup in 1998.
- 2005 - The U.S. women’s fencing team takes the gold medals att the 2005 Fencing World Championship in Germany.
- 2005 - For the first time, a rules change will allow women to play in British Open, according to the governing body for golf outside the United States, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. The new rule says that entry "should be based on playing ability irrespective of gender."
- 2005 - The Czech Republic's 16-year-old Nicole Vaidisova defeats Russia's Nadia Petrova to win her third title with a 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in Thailand’s Tennis Open. Her other victories include the Korea and Japan Opens.
- 2005 - Kim Clijsters wins her 30th career title at the Hasselt Open in her native Belgum,
defeating Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-3.
- 2005 - Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo beats Elena Dementieva 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, for her third successive Advanta Championships title and her third tennis title of the year.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam makes golfing history at the Mizuno Classicshot with an 8-under 64 for a three-stroke victory, becoming the first player in LPGA Tour history to win a tournament five straight times. The PGA Tour record for consecutive victories in an event is four, a mark shared by Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen and Tiger Woods.
- 2005 - 20-year-old Wang Mingjuan of China sets two world records, winning the gold medal in the women’s 106-pound division at the World Weightlifting Championships, with a clean and jerk record, lifting 260 pounds.
- 2005 - Canadian women’s hockey team beats the world champion U.S team 7-0 in the final of a pre-Olympic tournament Palasport Olimpico in Turin, Italy.
- 2005 - UMass-Lowell wins their first Division II Field Hockey title in a 2-1 victory over last year's winner, Bloomsburg University.
- 2005 - Jackie Ciconte led the Maryland Terps to the 2005 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship title, defeating Duke, 1-0.
- 2005 - Canadian Cindy Klassen sets a new world speedskating record in the women’s 1500 meters with a time of 1:51.79.
- 2005 - Stanford women’s cross country team wins NCAA Cross Country championshipsforits second women’s team title in the last three years.
- 2005 - The Portland Pilots defeat the UCLA Bruins 4-0 to win the NCAA women's soccer title.
- 2005 - The Washington Huskies (32-1) wins its first NCAA women’s volleyball championship, becoming the second team in NCAA history to sweep its matches in the tournament.
- 2005 - Annika Sorenstam is named the AP Female Athlete of the Year, making her the first golfer since Babe Zaharias to win the award three straighth years.
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