Credit: Twitter
Legendary tennis player Billie Jean King may soon become history's first female individual athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. Three U.S. senators are expected to introduce a measure on Wednesday that will grant King the honour, according to ESPN. She defeated Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," which is still the most-watched tennis match of all time.
The US Open, the first of the four majors to offer equal prize money to men and women, celebrated 50 years of doing so last month, and Senators Capito and Gillibrand met with King there. That was made possible in part by the stance King took after winning the Open in 1972, where she received $10,000 instead of $25,000 as Ille Nastase received for the men's champion. King declared that she and the other women pros wouldn't return to the competition in a year if they weren't given the same remuneration for their efforts.
A companion bill is being pushed by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, and it need to receive two-thirds of the votes in the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass. The bill, according to Gillibrand, should be approved before the year is over.
If King i s awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, she will join other athletes who have received the honour, including golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson, and Arnold Palmer, as well as baseball stars Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente.
