This Week's Women's Sports Recap
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Parity athlete Chiney Ogwumike signs multi-year extension with ESPN to remain as basketball analyst and host.
Chiney Ogwumike is the rare ESPN on-air talent with prominent assignments across both women’s basketball and the NBA — and those assignments are going to continue for the next four years.
ESPN will announce later today that Ogwumike has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the company. Her deal is for four years.
“I came into this environment as a young athlete and this might sound silly but I saw it as a place of opportunity, a place where I knew I could make an impact because my point of view was not really that available,” said Ogwumike, who joined ESPN in 2017 to co-anchor?SportsCenter across Africa and as a part-time WNBA and NBA in-studio analyst, and one year later became one of the only full-time professional athletes to hold a full-time national sports media position. “It felt like family and it’s the home for the NBA and the NBA Finals, the WNBA, women’s college basketball and March Madness. To be where the main event is, and to have a part of shaping narratives, telling stories and advocating for players, to be able to show my joy for everything that comes from basketball which has transformed my life, I feel like I am of service in this space.”
A hometown Olympian: City of Pembroke Pines honors Parity athlete Kendall Ellis with Key to the City.
In a heartfelt tribute to local athletic excellence, the city of Pembroke Pines will celebrate one of its own as Mayor Angelo Castillo presents the Key to the City to Kendall Ellis, a distinguished two-time Olympian, during a special City Commission Meeting. The ceremony was scheduled for Wednesday, October 16th, 2024, at 6:30 pm in Commission Chambers at 601 City Center Way, Pembroke Pines, Florida 33025.
The Key to the City is a prestigious honor that symbolizes the highest level of civic recognition. It is awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to the community or achieved remarkable feats in their respective fields. Kendall Ellis, a Pembroke Pines native and Track And Field Athlete, is set to receive this honor in recognition of her extraordinary achievements in athletics and her role as a global ambassador for her hometown.
Katia Itzel García is the first woman to referee a USMNT match.
Katia Itzel García made history over the weekend as the first woman to referee a USMNT match, commanding the centre circle as the USA beat Panama.?
The 32-year-old has been refereeing since 2016, and has already officiated international and club matches, from the Women’s World Cup and Olympics to Liga MX Femenil.
In March, she became only the second woman to referee a Liga MX 20 years after Virginia Tovar blazed the trail in Mexican football.
Women referees have been making waves across the world in the past few years. Rebecca Welch became the first woman to referee in the Premier League last year, after years of breaking through multiple glass ceilings in English football. In the MLS, Tori Penso became the league’s first full-time woman referee, as well as the first to officiate a match in 20 years back in 2020.?
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The Riveters add the women's game to Pittsburgh's flourishing soccer scene.
Starting in 2025, Pittsburgh will be home to a new pre-professional soccer team: Pittsburgh Riveters SC. It was announced in April 2024 that the Riverhounds ownership group was in the process of putting a team together and holding a team naming contest . The Riveters moniker emerged the city's clear favorite.
Over the years, the soccer scene in Pittsburgh has grown immensely. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds started out playing in various high school venues before moving to their current home at Highmark Stadium, which can currently seat 5,000 people.
During their first nine out of 10 years playing in Station Square, there was an average of 2,991 fans that attended the home games.
n 2023, the Riverhounds blew that average out of the window , drawing 5,073 spectators per game. They had three games that year alone that ended up drawing 6,000+ people each. 2024 was no small feat either, drawing 5,050 people per game. Dan Visser , sporting director for the Riverhounds, explains the reasons behind adding a women’s club in the area. “I think there’s absolutely a business case for it. If there was not a business case for it, we would not being doing it,” he says.
Fans gush over Ilona Maher’s dedication of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ performance to Olympic rugby teammates.
Tuesday night’s episode of Dancing with the Stars was “Dedication Night,” and contestants had the chance to devote their performances to influential figures and institutions in their lives.
For Olympian Ilona Maher , the decision of whom to honor was easy. In a heartfelt Instagram message ahead of the fifth round of competition on Oct. 15, the rugby athlete dedicated her impending performance to her 2024 Paris Olympic rugby team—the group that won the bronze medal and secured the first Olympic podium finish for the U.S. women’s rugby program.
“Tonight, I’m dedicating this dance to my Olympic team,” Maher wrote in the caption of her post. “We truly did something so special not just for ourselves but for those who came before us and those who will come after us. It was in no way easy but I’m so happy I had this group of incredible people to do it with.”