The first one is featured above, Danica Patrick. A very beautiful woman who competes with the big boys in Indy car and now NASCAR in 2012. She is a very popular driver who is famously know for her Godaddy.com commercials. With all her endorsements, it has not really translated into wins. In 7 years of racing Indy Car, she has competed in 114 races, won three poles, and has just one win with no no Indy 500 wins or championships. As serious as she is on the racetrack, she is certainly not shy to shed that seriousness when it comes to commercializing herself especially in suggestive Go Daddy commercials and magazine spreads. What is she more famous for now, racing cars or posing half naked?
Another name is Anna Kournikova. As a teenager in the later 90s, she took the tennis world by storm. She became one of the best know tennis stars in the world. She reached as high as No. 8 in the world in 2000 but never won a WTA singles title which has been the biggest knock against her. She did become known for her skimpy tennis outfits and appearing in many men's magazines in bikinis and swimsuits and also received a lot of attention for her personal life.
The polar opposite, however, is fellow tennis star Maria Sharapova. A very striking and beautiful woman, she has found great success on the tennis court as she has won 24 WTA singles titles which includes 3 Grand Slams. She has done some modeling too. Another successful female athlete is softball player Jennie Finch. In 2003, she was noted in an ESPN poll as one of the most attractive female athletes and in 2004 she was one of the 50 Most Beautiful People as voted by People magazine and the only female athlete on the list. She is a three-time All American pitcher and first basemen and was won gold and silver medals at the Summer Olympics. Lisa Leslie is another successful female athlete. While she has done modeling, she has also been very successful on the basketball court. Leslie is four-time Olympic gold medalist, a two-time WBNA champion, a three-time MVP and first player to dunk in a WNBA game.
Well there does seem to be female athletes who are not only attractive but have been successful in their respective sports. While Kournikova is retired and no longer competing, Patrick is still competing. Next year she will jumping to NASCAR which is hugely more popular than Indy Car and garners more attention. There will certainly be more scrutiny on her to show results. Perhaps maybe she should spend more time at the track and less time behind the camera?
Here is a fan letter to Danica on Grantland: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/9483/an-open-letter-to-danica-patrick
