It's hard to believe Maria Sharapova turned pro in 2001 and turns only 21-years-old in 2008. The three-time Grand Slam tournament champion won the Australian Open in 2008 and now must capture the French Open title to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments. Incredibly, her first Grand Slam singles title came when she was just 17, defeating Serena Williams in the U.S. Open in 2004. With many years ahead of her, only time will tell how many titles this future legend will capture. (Credit: AP)
Julia Mancuso
Julia Mancuso is an American alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist in the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics. (Credit: AP)
Jennie Finch
Jennie Finch may be the most well-known softball player to date. Complete with a practically unhittable riseball, Finch was a three-time All-American at the University of Arizona, setting an NCAA record with 32 wins in her junior year. She led the 2004 Olympic softball team to gold when she went 2-0, striking out 13 batters in 8 innings, yielding no runs and just one hit. (Credit: AP)
Amanda Beard
Amanda Beard is a gold medal Olympic swimmer, a former world champion, a former U.S. champion, and even a former Playboy cover girl. In 2004 she won individual gold at the Olympics in Athens for the 200m breaststroke, and in 1996 she won gold as part of the 4x100m medley relay team. Beard has captured eight U.S. titles, and won the gold in the 200m breaststroke at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona. (Credit: AP)
Jeannette Lee
Billiards player Jeannette Lee during the Women's Sports Foundation's 28th Annual Salute to Women in Sports at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on October 15, 2007 in New York City. (Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
Hannah Teter
Hannah Teter is a snowboarder from Belmont, Vermont, in the United States, known for her consistent and technical riding in the halfpipe. She won a gold medal in the women's halfpipe competition at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. (Credit: AP)
Heather Mitts
Soccer player Heather Mitts is a defender for the United States Women's National Soccer team. She was an All-American at the University of Florida and helped lead them to a national title in 1998. Mitts was also part of the gold medal-winning Olympic soccer team in 2004, the same year that she was also named ESPN's Hottest Female Athlete. (Credit: Peter Kramer/Getty Images)
Kristi Yamaguchi
Figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi won the Gold Medal at the 1992 Albertville Olympic Winter Games. (Credit: AP)
Joanne Carter
Australian figure skater Joanne Carter began skating at 4 years of age and went on to represent Australia in the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2006 Winter Olympics. (Credit: AP)
Tanith Belbin
Tanith Belbin is a Canadian-American ice dancer who won silver for the U.S. in the 2006 Olympics with partner Benjamin Agosto. Belbin and Agosto became the first American ice dancers to win an Olympic medal in 30 years. She is a five-time U.S. National Champion, winning her most recent title in Jan. 2008 in St. Paul. (Credit: AP)
Natalie Coughlin
Morgan Pressel is one of the youngest professional golfers on the LPGA tour, born May 23, 1988. She is the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA major tournament, when she won the Kraft Nabisco title in 2007. She also tied for second place in the 2005 U.S. Open. Pressel has reached number 4 in the Women's World Golf Rankings. (Credit: AP)
Anna Kournikova
Russian-born tennis player Anna Kournikova never won a Grand Slam singles title, and though she doesn't get much credit for her success on-court, she did win two Grand Slam doubles championships with Martina Hingis in the 1999 and 2000 Australian Opens. Persistent back injuries have kept her off the court in recent years, but her beauty kept her busy in numerous magazines. She was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003. Kournikova has been romantically linked to hockey star Sergei Fedorov and singer Enrique Iglesias. (Credit: AP)
Sasha Cohen
Sasha Cohen is an American figure skater born Oct. 26, 1984. Her storied career includes wins at the 2006 U.S. Championship, the 2005 Campbell's Classic, and the 2003 ISU Grand Prix Final. In 2006, she took silver at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She was the 2004 & 2005 U.S. Olympic Committee Female Figure Skater of the Year. (Credit: AP)
Jamie Sale
Jamie Rae Salé is a pair skater from Canada, who along with her husband and partner David Pelletier has won an Olympic gold medal. Sale & Pelletier are also notable for being "the Canadians" during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal. (Credit: AP)
Stacy Dales
Stacey Dales is a former basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. She serves as a men's and women's college basketball analyst, as well as a sideline reporter for college football games on ESPN. (Credit: AP)
Tara Lipinski
At the age of 15, Tara Lipinski won the Olympic gold medal in figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics, and remains the youngest gold medalist in the history of the Olympic Winter Games. (Credit: AP)
Gabrielle Reece
Gabrielle Reece is a star volleyball player, model, and actress. She made her mark first in the volleyball world when she attended Florida State University, where she was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. She still holds the record for solo blocks and total blocks at the school. Reece moved onto pro volleyball after college and won numerous titles in the WBVL. She's appeared on the covers of many magazines, including ELLE, Vogue, Shape, and Playboy. (Credit: Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)
Miwa Asao
Japanese beach volleyball player Miwa Asao. (Credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFB/Getty Images)
Biba Golic
Table tennis player Biba Golic attends the premiere of Rogue Pictures' 'Balls of Fury' held at the Egyptian Theatre August 25, 2007 in Hollywood, California. (Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Morgan Pressel
Morgan Pressel is one of the youngest professional golfers on the LPGA tour, born May 23, 1988. She is the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA major tournament, when she won the Kraft Nabisco title in 2007. She also tied for second place in the 2005 U.S. Open. Pressel has reached number 4 in the Women's World Golf Rankings. (Credit: AP)
Stephanie Rice
Stephanie Rice celebrates after making the Olympic team during an Australian Olympic swimming team announcement held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre March 29, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. (Credit: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Hope Solo
Hope Solo is a goalkeeper for the United States Women's National Soccer Team. She once went 1,054 minutes without allowing a goal. (Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Milka Duno
Race car driver and former model Milka Duno is best known for holding the record of highest finish for a female driver in the 24 Hours of Daytona as well as her current participation in the Indy Racing League. (Credit: AP)
Torah Bright
Australian snowboarder Torah Bright turned pro at age 14 and finished fifth in snowboarding for Australia at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. She is a committed Mormon and trains in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Credit: AP)
Laila Ali
The most famous of the nine children born to Muhammad Ali, Laila Ali is also a professional boxer. Undefeated in 24 matches, Ali has earned the WBC and WIBA super middleweight world titles. (Credit: AP)
Anastasia Myskina
Once the No. 2 ranked tennis player in the world, Moscow born Anastasia Myskina's tennis career was highlighted by a Grand Slam win at the 2004 French Open. She is currently recovering from an injury to her left foot. (Credit: AP)
Michelle Wie
At the age of ten, Michelle Wie became the youngest player ever to qualify for the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. A week before her 16th birthday, Wie announced that she was turning professional. She has no professional victories to date. (Credit: AP)
Katarina Witt
German figure skater Katarina Witt won two Olympic gold medals for East Germany, first in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the second in 1988 at the Calgary Olympics. (Credit: AP)
Michelle Kwan
Figure skater Michelle Kwan has won nine U.S. championships, five World Championships, and two Olympic medals. She has remained competitive for over a decade and is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. (Credit: AP)
Mia Hamm
Mia Hamm played for many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team. She scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female, in the history of the sport. (Credit: AP)
Candace Parker
College basketball player Candace Parker may be best known for being the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament game and the first woman to dunk twice in a college game. She led the Lady Vols to a second straight national title in 2008. (Credit: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Paula Creamer
Paula Creamer -- known as the "Pink Panther" for her love of the color -- began golfing at the age of 10. Two years later she was winning amateur tournaments. Creamer went pro in 2005, earning the title LPGA Rookie of the Year. (Credit: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
Daniela Hantuchova
Born April 23, 1983, Slovak tennis player Daniela Hantuchova is still an up-and-comer on the court and has a very bright future ahead of her. In 2008 she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australia Open, where she lost to another rising star, Ana Ivanovic. Hantuchova has had lots of success in mixed doubles, however, capturing four Grand Slam tournament titles. (Credit: AP)
Danica Patrick
Race car superstar Danica Patrick has garnered fame both on and off the race track. The first woman to lead a lap at the Indy 500, her 4th place finish in 2005 is the highest finish in the league's history for a female driver. Though she has yet to get the checkered flag, her successes, coupled with her 4-page photo shoot in Sports Illustrated magazine, have earned her a dedicated following. (Credit: AP)
Maria Kanellis
WWE Diva Maria Kanellis may not look very threatening, but put her in a wrestling ring and she'll prove otherwise. One of the most popular up-and-coming WWE superstars, she battled in her first "Wrestlemania" match on March 31, 2008 in Orlando. Maria has yet to hoist any gold, but she can now say she is a Playboy cover girl after posing in the April 2008 issue. (Credit: World Wrestling Entertainment)
Laura Baugh
Laura Baugh looks on during the Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Tournament at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. (Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is one of the greatest and most feared women on the tennis court today. The former No. 1 ranked player has won eight Grand Slam tournament titles and was a gold medalist in the 2000 Olympics. In 2002, the Associated Press named her the "Female Athlete of the Year," which she also received an ESPY award for in 2003. (Credit: Rick Stevens)
Tatiana Grigorieva
Australian Tatiana Grigorieva retired from a storied pole vaulting career in 2007. She's placed first three times in the Australian Championships, and won gold in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. She competed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where she won the silver. Since retiring she's done modeling and has appeared on the Australian versions of "Dancing With The Stars" and "Gladiators." (Credit: AP)
Gretchen Bleiler
Toldeo, Ohio native Gretchen Bleiler is considered one of the best snowboarders in the world. Most recently, she won 2008 X Games gold on the halfpipe in Aspen. She holds two WX SuperPipe gold medals ('03, '05), silver from '07 and a silver medal in halfpipe from the '06 Olympics. (Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
Kristi Leskinen
Kristi Leskinen is a professional skier born in Uniontown, Pa. on Feb. 10, 1981. Kristi was the first woman ever to pull a rodeo 720two rotations, head pointed to the earth. According to her EXPN bio, she is hoping that by adding a 900 to her run in 2008, she will net her first WX gold medal. (Credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Stacie Kielbler
Stacy Keibler has accomplished plenty during her young career. Though she may be best known for performing on the show "Dancing With the Stars," she gained her real claim to fame as a WWE Diva. Before entering the wrestling ring, Keibler was a professional cheerleader for the Baltimore Ravens. (Credit: AP)
Swin Cash
Swin Cash is the star forward on the Seattle Storm in the WNBA and has had a very successful collegiate and professional career. Cash helped lead the University of Connecticut to national titles in 2000 and 2002, and helped lead the Detroit Shock to the WNBA Championship in just her second season. Cash also won Olympic gold as a member of the 2004 women's basketball team. (Credit: AP)
Natalie Gulbis
Professional golfer Natalie Gulbis is a rising star who finally captured her elusive first LPGA title in 2007, winning the Evian Masters in a playoff against Jeong Jang. She's fared well in recent major tournaments, placing 3rd in the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship, and finishing in the top-10 in 2005 in the three other major tournaments. Gulbis also began writing a golf advice column in men's magazine FHM, and even had her own reality show on The Golf Channel called "The Natalie Gulbis Show." (Credit: AP)
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic is a Serbian tennis player and one of the biggest up-and-coming names in pro tennis. She's reached the finals of two Grand Slam tournaments: the French Open in 2007, and the Australian Open in 2008, but she lost in both. Born on Nov. 6, 1987, this Serb has many great years ahead of her. (Credit: AP)
Christine Arron
Sprinter Christine Arron was born in Guadaloupe, but completes for France. She was named the 1998 European Women's Athlete of the Year, after winning the 100m at the European Athletics Championships. She was a member of the 4x100 relay squad that upset the U.S. for the gold in the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. She holds the second fastest 100m performance time ever, behind Florence Griffith-Joyner. (Credit: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images)
Lindsey Kildow
Born in St. Paul Minnesota, Lindsey Kildow, is an elite member of the U.S. Ski Team's alpine skiing program. In 2008 she won the overall Alpine Skiing World Cup. (Credit: AP)
Dominique Dawes
Natalie Coughlin, Olympic swimmer, Dominique Dawes, Olympic gymnast, and Donna de Varona, Olympic swimmer (l-r), appear together at news conference sponsored by the Women's Sports Foundation. (Credit: AP)
Ashley Force
The former Esperanza High School Cheerleader in Anaheim, Ashley Force became the first female to win a NHRA funny car event. She beat her father, John Force in April, 2008! (Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)