1)Jessica Ennis-Hill
Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has history in her sights as she will attempt to become just the third athlete to win Olympic gold, have a baby and then return to successfully defend their crown. If the 30-year-old triumphs in the heptathlon she will also be the first British female athlete ever to retain an Olympic title. After giving birth to son Reggie, Ennis-Hill won the world title in Beijing and has battled back from an Achilles injury to head to Brazil as one of the favourites for gold
2)Marta Vieira da Silva, known as just Marta, is a superstar of women's football.
The 30-year-old, dubbed as "Pele in skirts," wants to finally prove that second is not good enough for the Brazilian women long time in the shadows of their star-studded men's team, who are holders of five World Cup titles. Winner of the FIFA's women's world player on the year five times, she helped Brazil to silver in Athens and Beijing, but despite her international honours has never won a major title with Brazil
3)Saori Yoshida
Unbeaten since women's wrestling was included to the Olympics in Athens in 2004, Yoshida, 33, is the most decorated athlete in freestyle wrestling, with three consecutive Olympic gold medals and 13 world championship titles. The 33-year-old will be bidding for a fourth consecutive Olympic title in the 55kg class. She carried the Olympic flag in London and in Rio will be the first woman to captain the Japanese team
4)Semenya is a South African runner set to take centre stage in athletics despite being pursued by gender questions.
She is favourite to win gold in the 800 meters in Rio and possibly break the track's longest-standing world record. But her presence is not without controversy. Her case triggered a debate in sport over hyperandrogenism, a condition involving overproduction of male sex hormones. After winning gold at the 2009 World Championships, Semenya was forced to undergo medical tests and barred from the track for nearly a year, before returning to win silver at the 2011 worlds and 2012 London Olympics.
5)Yusra Mardini swam for her life when she fled native Syria less than a year ago.
In Rio, the 18-year-old will be swimming for a medal in the 100 meters butterfly and 100m freestyle as along with Rami Anis she will represent the refugee team in Olympic swimming. The Germany-based athlete is competing just 11 months after she plunged into the freezing Aegean Sea to help push a sinking dinghy, overcrowded with 30 migrants, to safety. For three hours, she, her sister Sarah and another woman took turns to push the boat to safety. Life took her to Germany, and then Rio and on August 5 it will be "pride, happiness and butterflies in the stomach" she will carry the flag of the first team of IOC refugees, accompanied by Anis, and eight other athletes without a country.
No comments:
Post a Comment