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History of Women in Sports Timeline - 2010
"The future for the sport is going to be exciting, and I can't wait for it. But for now, I'm going to celebrate my win."
Surfer Stephanie Gilmore on her 4th consecutive ASP Women’s World Title.
- 2010 - Brazil's Marta, 23, is soccer's World Player of the Year award for the fourth year in a row. She won the Golden Boot and was elected league MVP with the Los Angeles Sol in 2009 in the revamped U.S Women's Professional Soccer League. American Mia Hamm won the inaugural women's award in 2001, winning again in 2002; Germany's Birgit Prinz won the award three years in a row from 2003-2005.
- 2010 - NBC's Universal Sports names alpine skier Lindsey Vonn its Female Athlete of the Decade.
- 2010 - Penn State becomes the first team to win three straight NCAA volleyball titles, extending the Nittany Lions' record winning streak to 102 straight games.
- 2010 - Stanford University's Kelley O'Hara wins the Hermann Trophy, NCAA soccer's highest honor, with a school record with 26 goals scored during the 2009 season while leading the Cardinals to the NCAA championship.
- 2010 - Melanie Troxel, a star on the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing circuit, becomes the first woman to win the opening competition of the Lucas Oil/Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, topping a field of nine male drivers to capture the victory in the first of two races held in a fundraiser for the United States bobsled team.
- 2010 - Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, 22, signs a record-breaking eight-year 70-million-dollar contract with Nike in the largest athletic endorsement for woman in history. Larger than Venus Williams' five-year, $45-million deal signed with Reebok in 2000, it includes the launch of a clothing line designed by Sharapova in which she will get a share of the profits.
- 2010- Serena Williams wins her second-straight and fifth Australian Open title, defeating Justine Henin, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. With her 12th Grand Slam championship overall, she is now tied with Women's Sports Foundation founder, Billie Jean King.
- 2010 - Martina Sablikova gives the Czech Republic its first Olympic medal in speedskating, winning the gold in the women's 3,000 meters; the silver medalist is Stephanie Beckert of Germany and Canada's Kristina Groves takes the bronze
- 2010 - At the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, American's Hannah Kearney and Shannon Bahrke win the gold and bronze in the women's moguls Saturday with Canada's Jen Heil earning the silver.
- 2010 - Slovakian Anastazia Kuzmina wins the gold medal in the women's 7.5 kilometer biathlon sprint. The silver was won by Magdalena Neuner and the bronze by Marie France' Dorin.
- 2010 -The Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) and USA Softball names Jennie Finch the USA Softball Female Athlete of the year for her accomplishments during the 2009 season. Her hits in the Championship Game of both the Japan Cup and Canada Cup secured the USA victories and was voted the Japan Cup MVP.
- 2010 - Australia's Torah Bright wins the gold medal in the Olympic women's halfpipe, defeating American Hannah Teter; American Kelly Clark, the 2002 champion, wins bronze.
- 2010 - American Lindsey Vonn wins her first career gold medal in alpine skiing; her teammate and 2006 giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso finishes second; bronze is won by Gorgl. Vonn's victory is the first for an American woman in the event, and the 1-2 finish is the first for the U.S. in an alpine event in 26 years.
- 2010 - Canadian Maelle Ricker takes gold in women's snowboard cross; Deborah Anthonioz of France wins the silver; Olivia Nobs of Switzerland wins the bronze.
- 2010 - Venus Williams defeats Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to win the Billie Jean King Cup.
- 2010 - UConn’s women top a perfect season, defeating Stanford 53-47, to capture its second consecutive NCAA title, and its seventh overall. Center Tina Charles is the 2010 National Player of the Year. The win extends UConn’s streak to 78, just 10 short of UCLA's men with the longest winning streak in college basketball, posting 88 victories in a row from 1971-74.
- 2010 - Taiwan's Yani Tseng, 21, defeats Norway's Suzann Pettersen by one shot, for her second major title at the Kraft Nabisco, with a four-under 68 for a total of 13-under 275.
- 2010 - A female pitcher from Japan, Eri Yoshida, signs on to play with an all-male minor league baseball team in the United States, the Chico Outlaws based in Chico, CA.
- 2010 - Ultra-marathoner Amy Palmiero-Winters, 34, the mother of two and an amputee wins the 2010 AAU Sullivan Award, given annually to the nation's top amateur athlete. Winters lost her left leg below the knee following a 1994 motorcycle accident and now uses a custom-made prosthesis to compete against able-bodied men and women. Winters has completed ultra-marathons in the 50k, 50mile, 100k, 100 mile and 24 hour distances as well as both an Ironman and Half IronMan Triathlon.
- 2010 - World-class free skier Grete Eliassen sets a new world record for height on skis, reaching speeds of approximately 60 miles-per-hour as she hit the custom 30-foot tall hip, and soared more than 31 feet in the air to set an unofficial new world record for women.
- 2010 - Katie Spotz, 22, becomes the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, rowing 2,817 miles in ocean waters to raise money for access to safe drinking water for 2,600 people.
- 2010 - Oh Eun-sun, South Korea, becomes the first woman to climb the world's 14 highest mountains; South Koreans have named her a national hero.
- 2010 - Gwen Jocson, 43, aboard Honor in Peace, wins the Lady Legends for the Cure race at Pimlico Race Course, the first ever pari-mutuel race featuring eight retired female riders, staged in a partnership between Pimlico management and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest breast cancer organization.
- 2010 - Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson, 16, arrives in Australia's Sydney Harbor after spending 210 days sailing her 34-foot yacht, the Pink Lady, around the world, becoming the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world.
- 2010 - Francesca Schiavone, 29, of Italy wins first women's title at the French Open, defeating Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 7-6 (2), the first Italian woman to win the tournament. She has only won three WTA tournaments in her career. Venus and Serena Williams win the women's doubles championship, defeating Katarina Srebotnik and Kveta Peschke for their fourth Grand Slam doubles title.
- 2010 - Cristie Kerr wins her second major championship by a landslide 12 strokes, two shy of the LPGA record and three shy of Tiger Woods' 15-stroke win in 2000.
- 2010 - For only the second time in history that the Honda-Broderick Cup (award for Top Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year) has been shared between two winners, Maya Moore and Megan Hodge. Hodge, the senior Penn State hitter, had unquestionably impressive stats in her four years at Penn St. Her team compiled a 142-5 record, in which Hodge won 102 straight games to end her career. She averaged 4.67 kills per set as a senior and has 2,142 career kills, becoming only the second PSU player to reach the 2,000 kill mark. Moore, the junior UConn forward, is coming off her team's second straight NCAA championship, and in the wake of their 78 straight wins over two seasons, her awards have been rolling in. Aside from winning the Honda-Broderick Cup, Moore was also the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year with a 3.85 GPA, as well as a finalist for the Wooden Award.
- 2010 - Cammi Granto and Angela James become the first women elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
- 2010 - Serena Williams wins her 13th Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon over Vera Zvonareva, hitting a record 89 aces (breaking her own record by 17) and won every match in straight sets in the tournament. Williams passed Billie Jean King for 6th place on the all-time Grand Slam singles list.
- 2010 - Team USA wins its seventh-straight World Softball Championship, going undefeated 10-0 and outscoring their opponents 95-6 throughout the tournament, with a 7-0 victory over Japan in the final game.
- 2010 - An all-female crew of four, the Seagals, set a new record by becoming the first women to row non-stop around Britain, spending over seven weeks in their 24-feet boat, Go Commando, completing a 2,010-mile journey.
- 2010 - Team USA wins inaugural IFAF Women’s World Championship for American Football 66-0 roust over Canada in a historic tournament in Stockholm, Sweden.
- 2010 - South Korea’s Jiyai Shin wins the Evian Master’s Tournament; seond place was a three-way tie between Morgan Pressel, Alexis Thompson and Na Yeon Choi.
- 2010 - Germany wins the U-20 Women’s World Cup over the Nigerian Falconets in the championship match, 2-0.
- 2010 - Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, 21, wins Women’s British Open over Australia’s Katherine Hull by one stroke.
- 2010 - New research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business takes a step towards empirically proving the aforementioned theory. In her paper titled, "Beyond the Classroom: Using Title IX to Measure the Return to High School Sports," Wharton business and public policy professor Betsey Stevenson offers evidence that playing sports leads to more education and better employment opportunities.
- 2010 - Kim Clijsters wins her second straight US Open women's championship, 6-2, 6-1, against Vera Zvonarevam in 59 minutes, the shortest women's final since match time began being officially recorded in 1980.
- 2010 - The US women's national team wins the World Basketball Championship in a 89-69 win over the Chech Republic.
- 2010 - The Seattle Storm completes the WNBA's first undefeated postseason in eight years, beating the Atlanta Dream 87-84 for a three-game sweep of the finals.
- 2010 - Stephanie Gilmore, a 22-year-old Australian, claims her fourth, consecutive ASP Women's World Title, making history at the Rip Curl Women's Pro Search Puerto Rico. Gilmore's win marks the first time an athlete has achieved a perfect record in the professional surfing world, with Gilmore claiming the coveted crown in her rookie season and every year since.
- 2010 - Arizona swimmer Justine Schluntz is named the NCAA's Woman of the Year. The Rhodes Scholar and 16-time NCAA All-American also made the Pac-10's first team all-academic swim team for three consecutive seasons. The award, granted annually since 1991, is given to a student-athlete who has completed her eligibility and demonstrated academic and athletic excellence, all while demonstrating extraordinary community service and leadership.
- 2010 - Kenyan Edna Kiplagat wins the 2010 New York City Marathon in 2 hours and 28 minutes, after winning the 2010 Los Angeles marathon. The NYC Marathon draws more than 100,000 applicants annually.
- 2010 - American Cammi Granato and Canada's Angela James become the first women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Granato won Olympic gold at the 1998 Nagano Games and silver in 2002 in Salt Lake City, playing in every World Championship for the US team from the inaugural event in 1990 to 2005. James won four World Championship golds for Canada, scoring 34 goals in the 20 games of her four World Champ appearances.
- 2010 - The LPGA votes to allow transgender women golfers a chance to play on the tour by eliminating the "female at birth" clause from the LPGA's constitution.
- 2010 - Olympic gold medalist and three-time Audi FIS Alpine World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn is named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 2010, receiving more than double the votes of any other nominee.
- 2010 - Teri McKeever, 45, becomes the first woman to coach an American Olympic swim team when USA Swimming names her to head the women's squad at the 2012 London Games.
- 2010 - The University of Connecticut Husky's 93-62 win over Florida State is their 89th in a row, breaking a record previously held by legendary coach John Wooden and his UCLA Bruin's men's team (1971-74). Maya Moore, a two-time National Player of the Year, had a double-double with a career-high 41 points and 10 rebounds, and Bria Hartley added 21 points for the Huskies.
- 2010 - Stanford ends Connecticut's record 90-game winning streak; the same team that UConn last lost to on April 6, 2008 in the Final Four at Tampa, FL.
- 2010 - In Alaska, Kenai Central High School’s Hope Steffensen finishes undefeated in the 103-pound weight class, becoming the second female wrestler to win a state championship in high school wrestling.
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