Grateful and sad, the bittersweet farewell to 4 legends of sport

This is a column by Shireen Ahmed who writes opinions for CBC Sports. For more information about Opinion Department of CBCPlease take a look… FAQ.

Change is difficult for many. And in sport, change can mean injuries, team changes or retirement. It’s hard to imagine your favorite player retiring. When I think of Christine Sinclair announcing her retirement, which she will one day do, I can’t even handle the emotions that are about to flood my senses. As a lifelong soccer lover, I can’t even fathom the sport without her around.

Likewise when I read this Fashion I was stunned. Not only was her piece beautiful and heartfelt, but she was so open about her feelings about the actual word “retirement” and how she struggled to use it. She played at the National Bank Open in Toronto the next day and was screened so much love. Rightly so. Serena Williams has become the greatest player of all time and the thought of her retiring is sad even for casual fans of the sport.

During the same period, we also learned that two basketball greats – Sylvia Fowles and Sue Vogel – would retire from the WNBA. For those familiar with women’s basketball, Fowles and Bird are the game’s fixtures. Women’s basketball is growing in popularity, largely due to her contributions to the league and basketball culture both on and off the court. Bird, Team USA soccer star Alex Morgan, swimming phenom Simone Manuel and snowboarding champion Chloe Kim (all Olympic champions) founded a digital media company called TOGETHERXR to increase the success of women in sport.

Fowles has a reputation for being one of the kindest, warmest souls to play basketball, and before her final game in Minnesota on August 14, she spent hours knitting hats for her teammates, who she affectionately call Mama Syl. Fowles has been studying mortuary science for seven years and will pursue that vocation in retirement.

Speaking of phenomenal moms, track superstar and mothers’ rights activist Allyson Felix also announced her resignation. With 11 Olympic medals and a career spanning more than 17 years, she is the most successful track and field athlete in US track and field history.

It felt like a wave had turned into a giant wave and the retirement of these amazing athletes would leave chasms in their respective sports. And while their careers have been inspirational, they have not been without challenges and struggles.

William has fought against anti-black cartoons and misogyny in the media. she boycotted a tournament because her racist behavior towards her father is regrettable. Williams has also shown her vulnerability and came publicly about her struggles with mother’s health, the anti-blackness she faced giving birth to daughter Olympia, and her postpartum depression.

Female athletes at the forefront of the BLM movement

Despite being a celebrated Nike athlete, Felix wrote an op-ed exposing the company’s unfair practices, including forgoing maternity benefits for their athletes who had families.

She left Nike and started her own clothing company, Saysh, when she didn’t have a sponsor for the Tokyo Olympics. “I got tired of asking for change,” she said said. “I knew I had to create it.”

Fowles and the Minnesota Lynx have been at the forefront of Black Lives Matter activism, criticizing police brutality across the US. This issue, which at times polarized Americans, felt rested on the shoulders of women basketball players who laid the blueprints for activism and action on top of their athletic excellence

But as female athletes, their rise to the top of their game has been less lucrative than their male counterparts. in one Interview 2021 Here’s what Bird said about the pay gap between the NBA and WNBA: “Male athletes, female athletes — we’ve all put in the same amount of work, I don’t care what anyone says, we all put in the same amount of work. So is it hard to swallow when you know someone else’s work will be rewarded?”

The trouble goes on

Serena Williams may be the exception when it comes to the pay gap, but that’s mostly because before her Billie Jean Kingthe patron saint of women’s sports, campaigned for fair prize money for women in tennis.

Like King, these athletes have made their mark on the courts and track and continue to advocate and support their communities locally and globally, showing that their work continues after the whistle and the game ends.

In doing so, they withdraw from a certain type of game while remaining at the forefront of the many wars against racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other issues affecting athletes in the league and beyond.

It’s important for these women to take care of themselves and prioritize their families and the next steps in their careers. At the same time, this loss feels immense. In many ways they have grown their sport before us. We were fortunate to watch these impressive athletes pave the way for the offspring.

If we’ve learned anything, aside from the joy of observing their talents and personal accomplishments, it’s that this caliber of women will continue to thrive in whatever they do. You could focus on a new career, such as B. Williams, who devotes her time to becoming a full-time venture capitalist with her investment companyor work in a completely new field, like Fowles.

Whether we see them shifting to sports announcements or commentary, or just attending as fans, there’s no doubt these legends have influenced esports over the past 20 years. While change can be unsettling, we’re also here to see the beautiful changes these players make and celebrate their achievements.

Now that many have changed the game, we’ll continue to watch them and perhaps their daughters change the world.