To help celebrate Chatelaine magazine’s #Thisis40ish package (check out their terrific surveys and videos at chatelaine.com), we take a quick look at the careers of 10 women who played their sports well into their 30s and 40s.
Hayley Wickenheiser (37)
Wickenheiser was the first woman to play professional hockey full-time in a position other than goalie. She has represented Canada on the international stage for two decades and is the all-time Olympic goal scorer. In her career, she’s earned four Olympic gold medals, most recently at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
Dara Torres (48)
Torres is a former competitive swimmer and 12-time Olympic medallist. She has previously held world records in three events and has participated in five Olympics between 1984 and 2008. At age 41, Torres became the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team and won three silver medals in Beijing.
Nancy Lopez (58)
Lopez is a professional golfer and has been a member of the LPGA Tour since 1977. The American has earned 52 professional wins throughout her career, including three Women’s PGA Championships. At age 40, Lopez placed second at the U.S. Women’s Open, coming short of her fourth major championship by just one stroke.
Joan Joyce (75)
Joyce is currently the softball coach at Florida Atlantic University, and previously enjoyed a record-setting career as a softball player for the Raybestos Brakettes and Orange Lionettes. In 1961, she struck out Ted Williams at an exhibition game in front of 17,000 spectators. Possibly the most diverse female athlete of all time, the Waterbury, Conn., native was also a member of the LPGA Tour and the U.S. national basketball team. Joyce is an eight-time MVP in the National Softball Tournament between 1961 and 1975.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias (Died at age 45 in 1956)
Didrikson Zaharias excelled at golf, basketball and track and field. After the LPGA Tour was founded in 1950, she won 41 Tour events including 10 major championships. The American won her last major at the U.S. Women’s Open in 1954, a comeback year after undergoing surgery for colon cancer in 1953. The cancer returned in 1955 and she died of the illness in 1956.
Martina Navratilova (59)
Navratilova is a retired professional tennis player and coach who held the World No. 1 ranking for 332 weeks. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles and another 31 Grand Slam doubles tournaments between 1975 and 1990. In 2005, Tennis magazine named Navratilova the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 to 2005.
Margaret Court (73)
Court is a former No. 1 tennis player who played professionally from 1960 to 1977. The Australian won 24 major championships, more than any other player, and in 1970, she became the first woman in the open era to win the singles Grand Slam. She came close to repeating the feat three years later while in her 30s, winning three of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
Jennifer Jones (41)
Jones is the skip of the Canadian squad that won gold in curling at the 2014 Sochi Games, which was the first time a Manitoba-based team topped the Olympic podium in the event. Jones’s team also won the 2008 World Championship, most recently the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Abby Wambach (35)
Wambach is an American soccer player and coach who holds the record for international goals scored (184) for both male and female soccer players. Wambach represented the U.S. in four FIFA World Cups and three summer Olympics, starting as team captain in three games during the national team’s championship win at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Wambach announced her retirement on Oct. 27, 2015, and will play her last game on Dec. 16 in New Orleans.
Clara Hughes (43)
Hughes is a Canadian cyclist and speed skater who has won a total of six Olympic medals, tied with Cindy Klassen for the most by a Canadian. Hughes is the only Canadian and one of five people to ever have podium finishes in both the Winter and Summer Games. At age 37, Hughes won a bronze medal in the 5,000 m, briefly setting a new world record.