TheFAN (Reuters) \u2013 Anyone looking for proof of the meteoric rise of women\u2019s sport need look no further than downtown Indianapolis this weekend where within a five block radius fans turned out in their droves to witness the brilliance of Katie Ledecky and Caitlin Clark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seven-times Olympic gold medallist Ledecky qualified for her fourth Games under the lights of Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday in front of an adoring crowd of 20,689, a record number for a swim meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less than 24 hours later, Clark thrilled a sold-out arena of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse as the WNBA\u2019s Indiana Fever beat the visiting Chicago Sky 91-83.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt just shows that when given the opportunity, women\u2019s sports are amazingly fun to watch and only on the rise,\u201d Clark told reporters after scoring 23 points in the hard-fought win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are finally starting to realise how great of a product it is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce they come and watch one time they can\u2019t get enough and they continue to come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo be a small part of that is super fun and to play in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,000 people, that\u2019s not something you ever take for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clark was on the receiving end of a hard foul from rival Angel Reese during the contest but said that is just the way it goes when elite athletes battle head-to-head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople love to see the emotion and the passion that we play with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that was something that was maybe not appreciated in women\u2019s sports and it should be. That\u2019s what makes it fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ledecky said she was having more fun than ever after punching her ticket to the Paris Games with a triumph in the 400 metres freestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 27-year-old was by far the biggest attraction on the opening night of the U.S. Olympic Trials, which for the first time are being held inside an NFL stadium with the atmosphere of a rock concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was blown away walking out there and seeing all the fans,\u201d Ledecky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope it moves our sport forward. I hope there are some young swimmers out there that get excited about today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clark\u2019s team mate Aliyah Boston said she is proud to be part of a movement that is inspiring the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYounger girls now have so many more athletes to look up to and say I want to be like her, I want to be an Olympian just like her,\u201d Boston said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo be a part of that is amazing. I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Indianapolis; Editing by Ken Ferris)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TheFAN (Reuters) \u2013 Anyone looking for proof of the meteoric rise of women\u2019s sport need look no further than downtown Indianapolis this weekend where within a five block radius fans turned out in their droves to witness the brilliance of Katie Ledecky and Caitlin Clark. Seven-times Olympic gold medallist Ledecky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":283570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=283569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283571,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283569\/revisions\/283571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/283570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=283569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=283569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=283569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}