Multiple guests walking the red carpet at the inaugural TIME100 Sports Gala in New York City on July 16 applauded the rise of women’s sports.
“Everybody watches women’s sports!” said Eileen Gu, the 2026 TIME100 Sports honoree who has won six Olympic medals.
Gu said she was “honored” to be “among greatness” at the event celebrating the most influential athletes, coaches, advocates, and investors in sports.
“Being a woman in a male-dominated sport, growing up, there were not a lot of athletes who looked like me,” the Chinese-American freestyle skier said. “I’m so grateful and so blessed to represent this sport on the world stage.”
“I hope [it] encourages just one young girl at home to give it a shot and feel like this sport belongs to her too,” she continued.
Gu wasn’t the only guest walking the red carpet that evening who expressed excitement at the rise in women’s sports.
Hilary Knight, the 2026 TIME100 Sports honoree who led the U.S. women’s hockey team to their gold-medal victory at the Milano Cortina Olympic Games in February, also spoke about how it was “so important” to watch women’s sports.
“Visibility is huge,” she said. “To be able to be represented, and [for] people to show up and be a part of what we’re doing is just so incredible.”
In April, more than 18,000 spectators piled into Madison Square Garden to watch the Seattle Torrent, then-captained by Knight, play against the New York Sirens—the highest single match attendance for a women’s hockey game in a U.S. arena.
“I truly believe that sport can unite people like nothing else, and it’s just so special to be a part of that,” Knight said.
Closing out the red carpet that evening was Trinity Rodman, the 2026 TIME100 Sports honoree and an American soccer player on the Washington Spirit and U.S. national team. She spoke about being a leader and the importance of showing young fans her personality both on and off the field.
The night before, Rodman and her Spirit teammates faced off against Gotham FC at Citi Field, with a sold-out crowd of more than 40,000 fans. The match broke the attendance record for a women’s sporting event in New York City history.
“You want to play the best, perform the best, and get all these achievements, but at the end of the day you’re also the person off the field,” Rodman said on the red carpet. “I think that’s huge to be able to show who you are through all these events.”
The TIME100 Sports Gala was presented by J.P. Morgan, Toyota, Target, The Macallan, and the American Heart Association.
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