10 Memorable Performances by Team USA Women in Summer Sports 2023
BY CHRÖS MCDOUGALL
American women have set a high standard in Olympic and Paralympic summer sports, and that tradition continued in 2023.
You can follow along on their journeys throughout the year at TeamUSA.com, but to celebrate the end of this year and the start of the new Olympic and Paralympic year, here are 10 of the most impressive performances by U.S. women in summer sports from 2023:
Simone Biles, Gymnastics
Just in case it wasn’t clear, Biles went ahead and made it official in 2023: she’s in a league of her own. Coming off a two-year break, the superstar gymnast returned to competition last summer and promptly won her record eighth U.S. title. At 26, she became the oldest woman to claim the all-around gold. Then she flew over to Belgium to win her record sixth all-around world title. Before she left she added wins in the team, floor and balance beam, plus a silver on vault. All told she now has 37 Olympic or world championship medals to her name, making her officially the most decorated gymnast of all time. Along the way, Biles also made history by landing the Yurchenko double pike in Antwerp. It’s the most difficult vault ever performed by a female gymnast, and now it’s the fifth skill to be named after the star from Spring, Texas.
Samantha Bosco, Para-Cycling
A serious training accident kept Bosco from competing at the Paralympics in 2021. Since coming back last year, the veteran cyclist from Claremont, California, has been nearly unstoppable. Bosco, now 36, followed up her most successful season ever with another dominant year in 2023 that included a second consecutive world cup overall title, defending her road world championships in both the road race and time trial, and three additional medals at the track cycling worlds. After closing out the year with three more medals — two of them gold — at the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Bosco enters 2024 as a favorite to add to the two Paralympic medals she won back in 2016.
Coco Gauff, Tennis
Gauff continued to live up to her vast potential in 2023, culminating in her first Grand Slam title. Did we mention she’s still a teenager? Gauff, who turns 20 in March, reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, then marched on to the quarters at the French Open. Following a rare first-round defeat at Wimbledon, the Delray Beach, Florida, native capped off the year with a spotlight-seizing run to the U.S. Open title in September. Long seen as the future of her sport — she turned pro at age 14 — Gauff’s win cemented her status as one of the world’s most buzzworthy athletes right now.
Rose Hollerman, Wheelchair Basketball
Hollerman has come a long way since her Paralympic debut as a 16-year-old in 2012. These days, few can fill up a box score like the Elysian, Minnesota, native. That showed in June, when Hollerman led Team USA in scoring and rebounding en route to the bronze medal at the world championships in Dubai, UAE. Hollerman was at it again at the Parapan Am Games in November. Her 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists helped the Americans beat Canada 62–56 in the final to secure a spot in the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
Katie Ledecky, Swimming
Ledecky isn’t just unbeatable in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle events. She’s historically unbeatable. In July, the Bethesda, Maryland, native added a sixth world title in the 800 and a fifth in the 1,500. No other swimmer — man or woman — has six world titles in a single event. Nobody has five world titles in two events, either. And while we’re at it, no swimmer can match Ledecky’s 21 career world titles or 16 individual world titles. Michael Phelps held both of those records until this year. In addition to winning her signature events by sizable margins at the world championships in Japan, Ledecky added a pair of silver medals in the 400 free and 4x200 free. With her 27th birthday not until March, Ledecky could still have many years to add to her impressive medal collections.
Caroline Marks, Surfing
Marks just missed out on a medal in Tokyo, finishing fourth in the inaugural Olympic surfing contest. Now she’ll have another chance, this time as the reigning world champion. Marks, of Melbourne Beach, Florida, earned her first title at age 21 by defeating fellow American and reigning Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore at the WSL Rip Curl Finals in September in San Clemente, California. The win came at the end of a season in which Marks won two other tour stops and reached the podium in four others.
Dana Mathewson, Wheelchair Tennis
Mathewson plans to retire after the Paris Games. That leaves plenty of time for the San Diego native to add to her trailblazing career. Already the first U.S. wheelchair player to compete in all four Grand Slams and to win one (Wimbledon doubles in 2022), Mathewson enjoyed another strong season in 2023. The highlight came in November, when she earned singles and doubles gold medals at the Parapan American Games, which in turn qualified her for her third Paralympics next year. By the way, she also earned a Ph.D. in May.
Sha’Carri Richardson, Track & Field
Following a turbulent last two years, Richardson made her long-awaited debut at a major championship this year. It was worth the wait. The sprinter known for her long fingernails and electrifying performances stunned when she not only won the 100-meter world title but won it from Lane 9 while setting a new meet record of 10.65. The 23-year-old Dallas native went on to win a bronze medal in the 200 and another gold in the 4x100 at the meet in Budapest, Hungary.
Hannah Roberts, BMX
Still just 22, Roberts continues to set the standard in the world of BMX freestyle. In August, she won her fifth career title — and her fourth in a row — at the world championships in Scotland. Two months later, she secured another world cup overall title. And not long after that, she successfully defended her gold medal at the Pan Am Games, too. Next on Roberts’ sights is an Olympic gold medal. The Buchanan, Michigan, native came oh-so-close to winning the sport’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, but Roberts fell just shy in the final and came home with the silver.
Susannah Scaroni, Para Track & Field and Marathon
Scaroni, a two-time Paralympic medalist on the track, broke out as a marathoner in 2022, then added to her resume this year. The 31-year-old from Tekoa, Washington, raced to her first win at the Boston Marathon in April, despite having to stop early to repair a wheel. Then, in November, she capped off the year by finishing third at the New York City Marathon — but as the first American to cross the line, she became the first U.S. woman to qualify for the 2024 Paralympics. She’s not giving up on the track, either. Between marathons, Scaroni added to her trophy case in July when she won a bronze medal in the 5,000-meter at the world championships in Paris.
FULL ARTICLE AT TEAMUSA.ORG.
