Lorena Ochoa
Best Professional Female Athlete of 2007
By Leslie
Heaphy
Looking
over the incredible accomplishments of female athletes during the 2007 seasons
one can find lots to celebrate and be excited about. In team sports there are such accomplishments as the NCAA
basketball championship won by Tennessee over Rutgers or the Gold Medal by the
USA Softball team in the Pan American Games.
Monica Abbott led Team USA and her college softball team to great
heights while setting records for wins, shutouts and appearances. Or what about the Gold Medal won at the Pan
American Games by Team USA’s table tennis team. Then there was Auburn’s Women’s Swimming and Diving team
continuing their dominance by winning their fifth title in six years at the
Division I National Championship. Add
to this growing list the accomplishments of young amateur Shawn Johnson, who
returned home to Iowa to a day declared in her honor. Johnson returned from the World Championships in gymnastics as
the All-Around Champion while her team won the Gold Medal. Johnson also won the All-Around Title at the
2007 Pan American games as well.
These accomplishments are just the tip of
the iceberg in exploring achievements by female athletes. There are four professional athletes who
seemed to dominate the professional scene in 2007, earning them consideration
for the top professional female athlete of 2007 with the honor going to Lorena
Ochoa.
Lauren Jackson who plays for the Seattle
Storm in the WNBA is the first player considered. She led the WNBA in rebounds and finished second in blocked shots
for the 2006-07 season. As a result she
earned the Defensive Player of the Year Award, beating out two time winner
Tamika Catchings of Indiana for that honor.
Jackson also won the MVP Award for the second time, garnering her first
trophy in 2003. She played in her 6th
All Star game and was named Western Conference Player of the Week on five
different occasions throughout the season.
Jackson joined four other superstars on the First Team All-WNBA. Jackson joined Becky Hammon in being named
Peak Performers of the Year. Jackson
won the honor for leading the league in rebounding and scoring while Hammon led
the league in assists. Jackson has been
a part of the WNBA since 2001 when she was chosen as the first all-around
pick. She was also recently named to
the All-Decade Team in 2006 so she is no stranger to the spotlight in the
WNBA.
Jackson continues to be a leader for the
Seattle Storm. Her hard work on the
defensive end of the court led to her leading her team in rebounds and blocked
shots for the seventh year in a row.
She now has 1,740 rebounds and 452 blocked shots in her career, both of
which are franchise records.
Congratulations are offered to Lauren Jackson for an excellent year and
continued good wishes as she resumes play in the WNBA.
Another dominant performer in 2007 has
been Sanya Richards in the world of track and field. Richards is considered by many to be one of the fastest women in
the world. In 2006 Richards broke the
49 second barrier in the 400m and went on to be named World Female Athlete of
the Year.
Though originally from Jamaica, Richards
now lives in Texas. She grew up in
Florida, but attended the University of Texas.
After winning every 400m race she entered in 2006, Richards finally lost
in the semi-finals of the USA Outdoor Championships after she had been ill
during the spring. This illness has
made her 2007 season tough after a dominant 2006.
She still remains one of the toughest
competitors on the track as she competed in the World Outdoor event and took 5th
in the 200m and won gold in the 4x400m.
She also won five times in the 400m at different track meets around the
world, finishing under 50 seconds during three of those races. Richards also competes in the 200m and 100m,
where she has won her share of races, including a 2nd in the 100m in
Stockholm.
Richards’ success has followed her
throughout her career. In 2002, she was
the Junior 400-meter champion in the United States with a time of 50.69. She continued her domination at the NCAA
championships, where she won the 400m outdoors and took 2nd
indoors. As long as she is healthy,
Richards is the woman to beat in the 400m and makes her competitors squirm in
the 200m.
In a series of six meets, in 2007, known
as the Golden League, Richards once again dominated in the 400m, winning all
six times. In her final race she ran a
world best 49.27 and beat the second place finisher Christine Ohuruogu by just
over one second. In recognition of her
efforts, Richards received half of the jackpot for the series which came to half
a million dollars. Richards says
herself that she believes her best is yet to come and we hope that is true for
Richards and the world of track and field.
In the world of tennis there are many
fine stars, but none was better in 2007 than Justine Henin. The twenty-five year old Belgian ended the
year ranked number one by the WTA and took home over $4 million in prize
money. This was the third time in her
illustrious career that Henin has been ranked number one. She finished at the top in 2003 and 2006. She played in twelve events in 2007 and won
eight of them, including the French and US Opens. On her way to winning the US Open, Henin beat the Williams
sisters and defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the finals, 6-1 and 6-3.
Henin has worked hard over the years to
rise to the top of the tennis world. It
has not been easy for her since her mother died when she was only twelve. Her mother was the one to bring her to
Roland Garros for the first time when she was young. She has also been estranged from her family until recently and
this has caused her to often appear distant and unapproachable to other
players. What this really shows is how
determined she is to win. She does not
let anything get in the way of her tennis.
Tennis has always been the one thing she can count on. Over the course of her professional career
she has won thirty-eight singles titles and two doubles titles since 1999, when
she won in Antwerp.
Henin seems to thrive on clay, having won
the French Open four times in five years.In 2006, she won the Open without
losing a single set along the way. In
2007, she easily beat Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2 to record the victory. Her most recent victory came after having to
pull out of the Australian Open earlier in the year because of difficulties in
her marriage to Pierre-Yves Hardenne.
Though married at a young age and together for four years, Henin moved
on and found herself at the French with her family in the stands, alongside her
coach of many years, Carlos Rodriguez.
She and Rodriguez have been a team since she was fourteen.
Henin’s 2006 career was truly outstanding
and her 2007 achievements kept her at the top of the tennis world, but her
competitors were closer. Though she did
not enter as many tournaments or pick up as much prize money, Justine Henin’s
2007 tennis season is one to be celebrated.
Lorena Ochoa started playing golf when
she was only five years old and broke into the LPGA ranks in 2003 to earn a
number 9 ranking. Since then she has
played in 99 LPGA events and finished in the top ten in 56 of those
events.
In 2004 and in 2006, she made the cut in
every event she entered, earning a number three ranking and then the number one
spot in 2006. In 2007, she entered
twenty-two events through early October.
She won seven of those events and finished in the top ten in all but
three of them. Her earnings in 2007
have put her in the number one spot with $3.3 million dollars, making her the
first member of the LPGA to earn over $3 million. She topped the previous high of Annika Sorenstam, who had record
$2.8 million in 2002.
On October 14, 2007, Ochoa capped off a
truly remarkable 2007 by defending her title at the Samsung World
Championships. She hit a final 66 to
defeat South Korean Mi-Hyun Kim. This
victory also resulted in her being named the Rolex Player of the Year for the
second consecutive season. She beat her closest competitor, Suzanne Pettersen,
for the award by 195 points. She also
had earned more than twice what
Pettersen had in the number two spot on the earnings chart. Ochoa truly dominated in all areas in
2007. Her Rolex win started a new
dynasty, since Sorenstam had won the previous five years in a row. As a result, the Women’s Sports Foundation
presented Ochoa with the 2007 Sports Woman of the Year Award at their banquet
on October 15, 2007. Ochoa received
over 9,400 votes from the public to win this honor. She also became the first woman from Mexico to ever receive this
award. A recent issue of Newsweek
included Ochoa in its list of eleven women of power in 2007.
Ochoa started her climb to the top of the
golf ranks in 2006 with a record setting year.
Many, including Ochoa herself, did not think she could do better but she
has. In 2006, Ochoa won the Associated
Press Female Athlete of the Year, Rolex Player of the Year and the Golf
Writer’s Association Player of the Year.
Her accomplishments have introduced the world of golf to many in Mexico
who never previously cared about the sport.
In 2006, she ended the year with a scoring average of 69.24 and has
nearly matched that in 2007 at 69.62.
As 2007 draws to a close, Ochoa has 59 rounds under par and 40 rounds in
the 60s. Fans can expect that 2008 will
see her continue to improve since she says there are still things to work on in
her game. Watch out to the rest of the
field as Ochoa’s game continues to mature.
In an interview for the LPGA website
Ochoa gave her fans a chance to get to know her a bit better. She explained some of her likes and dislikes
off the golf course. What one quickly
learns is Ochoa is a young lady who enjoys what she does, but knows that it
takes hard work, dedication and the support of her fans. While she likes to run to stay in shape, she
also likes to water ski to relax. She
carries a picture of her family with her all the time and likes to spend
winters in Mexico because of the sunshine and a chance to relax and regroup for
another season. She can be a fierce
competitor on the course, but is a fan favorite everywhere she goes.
Growing up in Guadalajara, Ochoa found
golf a challenge. Though it is a large
city, golf was not popular and there were only six courses. Ochoa also found that she was usually the
only girl out on the links. She had to
work harder to get accepted and earn their respect on the course. This intense play while growing up is part
of the reason for her success today.
She has also not forgotten her hometown and the lack of golfing
opportunities. Ochoa started a golf
academy and provided scholarships for young Mexican children to learn the game
as she did.
Our choice for the 2007 Professional
Female Athlete of the Year goes to golfer Lorena Ochoa. Congratulations to Lorena Ochoa on her great
2007 season. Her hard work and
dedication have begun to pay off in a big way.
Here’s wishing she and the other contenders for the Best Professional
Female Athlete of the Year the best of luck in 2008. There should be exciting things to come in the world of women’s
sports with these ladies leading the way.
Leslie Heaphy is an Associate Professor of History at Kent State University, Stark Campus. She has written numerous articles and several books, including The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960, Women’s Baseball and Black Baseball in Chicago. Reprint permission granted by www.bstmllc.com. n