12 Female Athletes Who Competed Well into Their 40s

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Serena Williams, Diana Taurasi
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While most professional athletes retire in their 20s or 30s, others stay in the game well into their adult years.

Iconic tennis sistersSerena and Venus Williams are still competing in tournaments at 44 and 46 years old, respectively. In June 2026, Serena announced that she'd be making her return to the Wimbledon courts, playing in the ladies' singles tournament as a wild card.

“I thought I should really take this opportunity,” she told reporters at a pre-Wimbledon press conference. “Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again. This could be it.”

But the Williams sisters aren't the only female athletes who are proving that age is just a number. Table tennis player Ni Xia Lian is still at the top of her game at 61 years old, while track and field star Allyson Felix announced her comeback at 40 years old in April 2026, hoping to make the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Here are 12 female athletes who have played their respective sports well into their 40s and beyond.

01 of 12

Venus Williams​

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Venus Williams
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Venus started her professional career in 1994 at 14 years old. Now, at 45 years old, she has yet to announce an official retirement and continues to play on the court.

The seven-time Grand Slam singles and 14-time Grand Slam doubles title holder recently broke an Australian Open record when she became the oldest-ever women's player in the main draw at the 2026 tournament.

"It was such a great game, such a great moment. The energy from the crowd was amazing. That lifted me up so much," Williams said of her loss to 24-year-old Olga Danilovic. “She played a great game. Also some luck there, as well. That's just the sport. That's how it works sometimes. But it was an amazing moment.”

02 of 12

Serena Williams​

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Serena Williams
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Serena began her professional career in 1995, just one year after her sister. She stepped away from the sport in 2022 after the US Open but never officially retired, telling Vogue in August of that year that she was “evolving away” from the sport.

During her career, she’s won 23 Grand Slam Singles titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister and four Olympic Gold medals. Now at 44, the tennis legend will make multiple appearances at Wimbledon, playing doubles alongside her sister and in the singles tournament as a wild card.

“My daughter, Olympia, told me I should play with Venus,” Williams told reporters at the Berlin Tennis Open in June 2026. “She’s always right, so I was like, okay.”

The tennis legend added, “She's very serious, she knows. She's very smart. She's very wise, I think, is a better word. So I said, 'Okay, Olympia, let's see if we can do it.' "

03 of 12

Martina Navratilova​

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Martina Navratilova
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Martina Navratilova retired just before her 50th birthday at 49 years old in 2006, following her last, record-setting tournament that made her the oldest player ever to win a Grand Slam title.

Navratilova is known as one of the greatest tennis players in history, with 59 Grand Slam titles and nine Wimbledon singles championships, among other singles and doubles wins.

She received a first-time diagnosis of throat cancer and a second-time diagnosis of breast cancer in 2022. She was declared cancer-free the next year.

“Being a tennis player, you fail all the time. You know, you may win three more points than your opponent, but you win the match, that's what matters,” Navratilova told PEOPLE in June 2026. “That was the same thing with cancer. You persevere. You get knocked down and you keep getting up, and that's what we did.”

04 of 12

Diana Taurasi​

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Diana Taurasi
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At 42 years old, WNBA star Diana Taurasi — once dubbed the “White Mamba” by Kobe Bryant — retired in 2025.

Taurasi was voted the “Greatest of All Time” by WNBA fans in 2021. The same year, she became the oldest player ever to record over 30 points in WNBA history when she played with Phoenix Mercury against the Las Vegas Aces in their semi-finals tie game.

The year of her retirement, Taurasi told TIMEthat she knew it was time to walk away from her sport when she started to feel like she just “didn’t have it in her” anymore. “Mentally and physically, I’m just full,” she said. “That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy.”

05 of 12

Allyson Felix​

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Allyson Felix
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Track and field star Felix had officially retired in 2022 at the age of 36, but recently announced her plans to come back with hopes of competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. If she does compete in her hometown in 2028, she will be 42 years old.

“So many of us have been told not to do the big, bold thing,” Felix said in an interview with TIME in April 2026. “You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let's flip it on its head. Let's go after the thing. Let's be vulnerable.”

Since her start sprinting professionally right out of high school in 2003, Felix has won 11 Olympic medals, including seven golds.

06 of 12

Lindsey Vonn​

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Lindsey Vonn
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American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn officially retired in 2019 at 34 years old. However, she later competed in the 2026 Winter Olympics at 41.

Despite shattering her left leg at the race, the eight-time World Champion medalist and three-time Olympic medalist says she still may not be done with her sport.

“I mean, much to my family’s dismay, yes, I think it’s something ... I’ve been so isolated. I’m still kind of trapped in this I didn’t have my Olympic dream situation,” Vonn told Today's Craig Melvin in April 2026. “But I need to walk and be out in public and be living life and I think that will give me a different perspective. Right now I can’t say what the future holds because my mind can’t get there yet.”

07 of 12

Laura Kraut​

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Laura Kraut
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While her career as an equestrian first got traction in the early 1990s, Kraut continues to ride and jump competitively in her 60s.

Throughout her career, Kraut has won over 100 Grand Prix competitions and has represented Team USA at the Olympics five times since 2000. She has won three Olympic medals, including one gold team medal. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Kraut became the oldest U.S. medalist in 72 years when she won a silver team medal.

“Listen, there’s no denying that I’ve gotten older,” Kraut told The Chronicle of the Horse in November 2025. “If it gives inspiration to people who are maybe considering that they're too old to achieve anything, or, you know, they've waited too long — I think the beauty of this sport is that as long as you're feeling fit and healthy, you can continue.”

08 of 12

Ni Xia Lian​

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Ni Xia Lian
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At 61 years old, Luxembourg table tennis player Lian competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics, marking her sixth appearance. While she has never won a medal, that year, Lian became the oldest table tennis player to win at the Olympics.

Since 1983, Lian has won a number of medals and championships at the world and European stage. She first played for the Chinese national team before eventually moving to Luxembourg in her 20s to coach and eventually play.

In September 2019, she told the Olympic Channelthat her heart is still “very young."

"[My] sleep is not so good, you have injuries, you tire easily and don't recover easily,” she said at the time. “But with age, you have an advantage. You have to find [it], focus on what you can do and what you have."

09 of 12

Christine Sinclair​

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Christine Sinclair
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At only 16 years old, Christine Sinclair started playing soccer professionally in 2000. At 40 years old, the Canadian player and all-time highest goal-scorer in international soccer officially retired in 2023.

Throughout her career, she was named Canadian Athlete of the Year twice and helped earn her team three Olympic medals, including one gold. She was the first soccer player to be named an Officer of the Order of Canada, which recognizes those who made a “difference” to the country.

“I think my teammates are the reason for my success,” Sinclair told Coveteur in August 2019. “I mean, I’ve been blessed to have incredible teammates [and] incredible coaching staff that have helped pave the way and helped me become the player that I have become."

10 of 12

Amy Purdy​

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Amy Purdy
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After losing her legs due to a bacterial meningitis infection in her teenage years, Amy Purdy told PEOPLE in March 2018 that she “refused to give up on herself." Following an over 20-year snowboarding career — including three Paralympic medal wins and multiple World Cup and World Championship medals — the paralympic athlete retired at 42 years old in 2022.

In addition to her competition wins, Purdy became the first-ever para-athlete Dancing with the Stars finalist during season 18 in 2014.

“Having two prosthetic legs and being a competitive snowboarder is challenging,” Purdy told PEOPLE in March 2018. “I’m the only female in the world that has two prosthetic legs and snowboards competitively, so I don’t really have anybody else to learn from. I kind of have to figure it out myself, and I work on my legs and I’m always experimenting and trying new things.”

11 of 12

Nicole Barnhart​

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Nicole Barnhart
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At 43 years old, Team USA goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart announced her retirement in 2024. At the time, she was the oldest player in NWSL.

Her career held many highlights, including being named the NWSL's first Goalkeeper of the Year in 2013 and being a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

In an August 2018 interview with Prime Focus Goalkeeping, Barnhart said that couldn’t single out one specific accomplishment that meant more than the others, as each was “different and special."

“I would probably just have to say one of my greatest accomplishments is my long career in the women’s game, and the impact it has allowed me to have on the game as both a player and coach,” she continued.

12 of 12

Sara Hall​

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Sara Hall
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Marathon runner Sara Hall has been competing professionally since graduating college in 2005 — and doesn’t seem to be retiring anytime soon at 43 years old.

In 2020, she became the second-fastest marathon runner in American history with a personal record of 2:20:32 at The Marathon Project in Chandler, Ariz.

With 10 national titles under her belt — and being the only American to win national titles in both the mile and marathon races — Hall hopes to achieve her dream of competing in the Olympics in 2028 at 45 years old.

“This is definitely the best my body has handled marathon training, this buildup,” Hall told Team USA of continuing to compete in July 2022. “It makes me excited. I would love to be able to keep improving and keep doing this sport for years to come.”

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