Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn, from Minnesota, won the World Cup overall title in alpine skiing in 2008. Vonn finished third in a World Cup slalom race in Austria on Dec. 29, and that was good enough to send her into 2009 leading the overall standings again. Vonn has 15 individual race victories in World Cup competition, most coming in the downhill.

More Lindsey Vonn pics

Lauryn Eagle

Lauryn Eagle was Miss Teen Australia in 2005. Now she's a sometime model, sometime professional waterskiing competitor.

Candace Parker

The Associated Press has selected basketball whiz Candace Parker as its Female Athlete of the Year for 2008. What are her credentials?

She led the Tennessee women's basketball team to a second straight national championship, was the first pick in the WNBA draft and won the league's MVP and rookie of the year honors. She also helped the U.S. win a fourth-straight Olympic gold medal.

Yep, that's an impressive year, all right.

Zara Phillips

Zara Phillips is royalty. And not just figuratively in the world of equestrian, where she won the Eventing World Championship and was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2006. But literally. She is 12th in the order of succession to the British Crown. She is the daughter of Princess Anne. She is also, as far as we know, the only member of the British Royal Family ever to sport a tongue stud (which she did for a while in her younger, wilder days).

Why are her shoes and the hem of dress covered in mud? Photographers. Whaddya gonna do?

Maria Sharapova

And between tournaments, Maria Sharapova earns extra cash as a substitute teacher. More Maria here.

Claudia Porras

Bolivian bikini model ... and University of Texas-El Paso basketball player. That's Claudia Porras. She's a 6-foot-2 forward who played on the Bolivian national team before joining UTEP for her junior season. She has since graduated.

Dara Torres in Maxim

We've been getting tons of searches the past few days for photos Olympic swimmer Dara Torres from Maxim magazine. And we give the people what they want.

Marcia Rubin

Marcia Rubin is a first for Babes of Sports: A fishing babe! Yep, Marcia Rubin is a professional tournament angler. She also claims to be 44 years old, but looks much younger than that, which I believe makes her a FILF (F for fisherwoman, natch).

Rubin plies her trade and casts her lines on the Women's Bassmaster Tour. You can learn more about her on her Web site or MySpace page.

Comet Girl

The WNBA announced that its Houston Comets franchise is going bye-bye. That means we also have to wave goodbye to Comet Girl, the Comets' mascot and entertainer. Sigh. Comet Girl, we hardly knew ye. But we sure admired your dunking style.