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Use the menu below to read our biographies of the century's greatest sportswomen and then tell us who you think should be No. 1. Also, be sure to check out our expanded home page and our new issue which is on newsstands now.

29. Janet Evans, Swimmer

1971-
First U.S. woman to win four Olympic gold medals in swimming

Evans had a tight grip on the gold. Heinz Kluetmeier
The glimpse we got of Janet Evans during the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Games speaks volumes about her place in U.S. Olympic history. As the penultimate keeper of the flame, Evans handed off the torch to Muhammad Ali for the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic cauldron. It was no small tribute for the swimmer from Placentia, Calif. Think of it as a well-deserved sort of lifetime achievement award for perhaps the best distance swimmer in American history.

As a 5'5" teenaged water bug at the 1988 Seoul Games, Evans helped put an end to East Germany's dominance in the pool. She won gold medals in the 400-meter individual medley; the 800 freestyle (in which she set an Olympic record); and the 400 free, in which she broke the existing world record by nearly four seconds.

At the 1989 Pan Pacific Games in Tokyo, Evans won three individual gold medals and broke her own world mark in the 800 free. Because Evans -- who didn't lose in the 800 or 1,500 at any level of competition for eight years -- was already the world record holder in the 1,500 (not an Olympic event for women), she held three swimming world records at the same time. That year she won the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete and was named the USOC's Sportswoman of the Year. At the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, she won two more gold medals.

When Evans returned to the Olympic stage at the 1992 Barcelona Games, she was not the world-beating sprite of four years earlier, but was still a world-class swimmer. She took silver in the 400 free, and her first-place finish in the 800 free left her one shy of Bonnie Blair as the most-decorated American female in Olympic history. At the 1996 Atlanta Games. Evans, all of 25-years-old, finished 11 seconds behind U.S. gold medalist Brooke Bennett in the 800, essentially passing the torch to the 16-year-old by way of a sixth-place finish. But Bennett, like any young swimmer, has a long way to go before matching the achievements of Evans, which include five NCAA, 45 national and 17 international titles.

In 1995, Evans finished work for her degree in communications at USC (she also attended Stanford and Texas) where she was a volunteer assistant swim coach from 1992 to '97. She also hosted the Janet Evans Invitational swim tournament at USC in 1996, '97 and '98

They said it: ''When I think about my records being the best times ever, it's hard to imagine they're mine. It's practically impossible for me to conceive of going faster.'' --Evans

--Jamie MacDonald

Athletes were selected by Sports Illustrated For Women, Sports Illustrated and CNN/SI editors, writers and correspondents who considered the athletes' on-field performance and achievements, plus their contributions to women's sports. Because athletic achievement was a key criterion, women whose contributions were made solely in administration and coaching are not included.