ON THIS DAY 7 7 2023

This Day in History: July 7

Featured Event

1978




Czech-born tennis player Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert to win her first of nine Wimbledon singles titles.


Martina Navratilova
Czech American tennis player


Martina Navratilova, (born October 18, 1956, Prague, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic]), Czech American tennis player who dominated women’s tennis in the late 1970s and the ’80s.
Navratilova played in her first tennis tournament at eight years of age. A left-handed player who ranked number one in Czechoslovakia from 1972 to 1975, she won international notice when she led her team to victory in the 1975 Federation Cup. In that year she went into exile in the United States because of the Czech government’s attempts to limit her tennis career. She was stripped of her Czech citizenship, and in 1981 she became a U.S. citizen. In 2008 she regained her Czech citizenship, thereby gaining dual citizenship.

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Featured Biography

Michelle Kwan
American ice skater


July 7, 1980 -
Michelle Kwan, American figure skater who was one of the most decorated athletes in the sport. Combining artistry and elegance with athleticism, she won more than 40 championships, including a record-tying...


Michelle Kwan, original name Kwan Shan Wing, (born July 7, 1980, Torrance, California, U.S.), American figure skater who was one of the most decorated athletes in the sport. Combining artistry and elegance with athleticism, she won more than 40 championships, including a record-tying nine U.S. titles (1996, 1998–2005). Kwan later served as U.S. ambassador to Belize (2022– ).
Kwan began skating at age five and won her first competition two years later. In 1994 she landed the alternate spot on the U.S. Olympic team and the following year placed fourth at the world championships. In 1996, sporting a new, more grown-up look, she won her first U.S. and world titles. After a growth spurt that added both height and weight, Kwan finished second to Tara Lipinski at the U.S. and world championships in 1997. She entered the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, as the gold-medal favourite, having defeated Lipinski at the U.S. championships earlier in the year. Lipinski, however, won the closely contested event, and Kwan had to settle for a silver medal. She captured a bronze medal at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the following year won her fifth world championship (1996, 1998, 2000–01, 2003).


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