#gowomango

Last week, Forbes Magazine released the list of the Top 10 World’s Highest-Paid Female Athletes in 2014. This list includes prize money AND endorsements, so it is a true top-ten list. It goes as follows:

2014 Top 10 Highest Paid Female Athletes

Maria Sharapova, Russia (Tennis)

Salary/Winnings: $2.4 million

Endorsements: $22 million

Total: $24 million

Li Na, China (Tennis)

Salary/Winnings: $5.6 million

Endorsements: $18 million

Total: $23.6 million

Serena Williams, USA (Tennis)

Salary/Winnings: $11 million

Endorsements: $11 million

Total: $22 million

Kim Yuna, Korea (Figure Skating)

Salary/Winnings: $300.000

Endorsements: $16 million

Total: $16.3 million

Danica Patrick, USA (Auto Racing)

Salary/Winnings: $7 million

Endorsements: $8 million

Total: $15 million

Victoria Azarenka, Belarus (Tennis)

Salary/Winnings: $3.6 million

Endorsements: $7.5 million

Total: $11.1 million

Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark (Tennis)

Salary/Winnings: $1.3 million

Endorsements: $9.5 million

Total: $10.8 million

Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland (Tennis)

Salary/Winnings: $3.8 million

Endorsements: $3 million

Total: $6.8 million

Ana Ivanovic, Serbia (Tennis)

Salary/Winnings: $1.4 million

Endorsements: $5 million

Total: $6.4 million

Paula Creamer, USA (Golf)

Salary/Winnings: $1 million

Endorsements: $4.5 million

Total: $5.5 million

This quote reminds me of Shonda Rhimes' commencement speech at Dartmouth's graduation ceremony last spring. The 1991 grad, who is known for writing and producing Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, told the students:

"Ditch the dream and be a doer, not a dreamer."

Dreaming is easy - it's the DOING that is so hard. It's getting past the fear of failure, the fear of success, and all the doubts and what-if's that is so hard. But all you have to do is BEGIN. Take the first step - just one step.

I went straight from Sacramento to Colorado Springs to finally figure out why 2014 has been such a struggle! I'm so grateful to the United States Olympic Training Center/Colorado Springs,CO staff for investing their time and energy into me. I finally know what's wrong and how to fix it!  I will be shutting it down for this year and enjoying being a "swim mom" while I get back to the old Shin. Thank you for your support!

Now I feel strong and beautiful. I walk proudly down the streets of Manhattan. The people I love, love me. I make the funniest people in the country laugh, and they are my friends. I am a great friend and an even better sister. I have fought my way through harsh criticism and death threats for speaking my mind. I am alive, like the strong women in this room before me. I am a hot-blooded fighter and I am fearless.

But I did morning radio last week, and a DJ asked, “Have you gained weight? You seem chunkier to me. You should strike while the iron is hot, Amy.” And it’s all gone. In an instant, it’s all stripped away. I wrote an article for Men’s Health and was so proud, until I saw instead of using my photo, they used one of a 16-year-old model wearing a clown nose, to show that she’s hilarious. But those are my words. What about who I am, and what I have to say?

I can be reduced to that lost college freshman so quickly sometimes, I want to quit. Not performing, but being a woman altogether. I want to throw my hands in the air, after reading a mean Twitter comment, and say, “All right! You got it. You figured me out. I’m not pretty. I’m not thin. I do not deserve to use my voice. I’ll start wearing a burqa and start waiting tables at a pancake house. All my self-worth is based on what you can see.”

But then I think, F*** that. I am not laying in that freshman year bed anymore ever again. I am a woman with thoughts and questions and s*** to say. I say if I’m beautiful. I say if I’m strong. You will not determine my story — I will. I will speak and share and fuck and love and I will never apologize to the frightened millions who resent that they never had it in them to do it. I stand here and I am amazing, for you. Not because of you. I am not who I sleep with. I am not my weight. I am not my mother. I am myself. And I am all of you, and I thank you.

How I feel about my Drake Relays race…..

Powerful reflections from Bey in this video on what really matters in life:

"You get this trophy and you're like, 'I have basically starved, I have neglected all of the people that I love, I've conformed to what everybody else thinks I should be and I have this trophy,'" Beyoncé says. "What does that mean? The trophy represents all of the sacrifices I've made as a kid and all of the time that I lost, being on the road and in studios and I just want to blow that shit up.

I have a lot of awards, and they're amazing, and I worked my ass off to get those things. But nothing feels like my child saying, "Mommy," nothing feels like when I look my husband in the eyes, nothing feels like being respected, when I get on the stage and I see I'm changing people's lives.