Two veteran female athletes, both well over 6 feet tall, were stars of the Olympic Games in their sports once again in 2008. Gayle talks with basketball player Lisa Leslie and softball player Jennie Finch about their time at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games and their futures in the Olympic Games.
Lisa has four gold medals from four different Olympics, including the Olympic Games in Beijing, and she's the first athlete in a team sport to accomplish such a feat. "It does not gets old," she says. "Winning is great, and I always tell my teammates the day of the gold-medal game,'We want to hear our national anthem played twice.' They play it in the beginning, and the only person who hears their second [national] anthem is the winner."
Lisa says she won't be back for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. "I just feel like I have had enough," she says. "I've given so much to this sport of basketball and having my baby, Lauren, who is 14 months—I feel like it is her turn now."
Jennie has long been known as one of the most famous softball players of all time, but these Olympic Games may have been her last. The International Olympic Committee confirmed the sport will be off the Olympic Games schedule in 2012, something that upsets Jennie and her teammates. "It was very emotional," she says. "I still think there are some pitches in this pitching arm, so I will continue playing with USA Softball, but knowing that this could be the last time a softball player stands on the Olympic podium and has the opportunity of experiencing this—it was emotional."
Jennie says the Beijing Summer Olympic Games were bittersweet as the U.S. softball team did win a silver medal. She says she hopes her efforts, and that of her team, will inspire young girls to follow their dreams. "Growing up, I looked up to major league baseball players, and now these young women have amazing, incredible women all across the board, from swimming to gymnastics to softball to basketball,” she says."It is incredible how far women have come and women in sports have come."
