Women Who Win

Two hundred magnificent photos by Lessa dominate this book, relegating the standard success-story text to the background. While many of the subjects are expected (including Fleming, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Julie Krone and Sheryl Swoopes), there are many younger women and competitors in lesser-known sports among the 22 successful female athletes portrayed. Here are champion surfers, mountain bike racers, swimmers and hockey players, plus skater Tara Lipinski, who won her Olympic gold medal earlier this year at the age of 15. Many of the interviewees love sports because they feel challenged--not as women but as athletes--and because they develop camaraderie with their competitors and teammates. Many come from broken homes and, aware that they are role models, work to make the path easier for girls who hope to follow them. The book would have been stronger if it had resisted the temptation to show the ""feminine"" side of these athletes. A photo of Amy Mullins, a paralympic track star with a prosthetic leg, straddling a chair in fishnet stockings is the most startling example of how the book tries too hard to make a case with which no sensible person could argue: that women athletes are both women and athletes. Nevertheless, this book is sure to provide inspiration and confidence aspiring female athletes. (Dec.)