30 greatest female athletes of all time

25. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings
Beach Volleyball

Okay, so this is technically two people, but you absolutely cannot separate their ranking. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings are two of the greatest volleyball players ever, hitting the sand and winning gold medals at the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics. They also won the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in 2003, 2005, and 2007. By some miracle, someone beat them in 2011, and they were stuck with silver. That is why the gold was so important at the London Olympics.

Misty May-Treanor’s dominance goes all the way back to college, where at Long Beach State she captained the first-ever undefeated volleyball team in NCAA history. She was also named the Honda-Broderick Cup in 1999, given to the best collegiate female athlete in the country. She won the Most Outstanding Player award in the championship after 20 service aces. 

Walsh Jennings was an All-American all four seasons she played at Stanford. Her team went 122-11 during her entire college career. Once she turned pro, Walsh Jennings likely needed to buy a bigger house just to carry her trophies and medals. In all, she has more than 40 gold medals to her name. 

Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor came together in 2001. It was instant chemistry, and in their first year in professional action, they became the sixth-ranked pair in beach volleyball. One year later, they were the catalyst for the sport. They won the World Championships that season, upsetting defending champ Brazil. They continued to dominate, with some time off for injuries and pregnancy, until May-Treanor retired in 2012.