Two extraordinary women shared the name Cynthia Cooper and reached the pinnacle of their fields within a few years of each other, yet their arenas could not have been more different. This deep dive contrasts the physical public endurance of one with the psychological private endurance of the other, finding the same engine beneath both: a refusal to accept the limitations of their environments.

Cynthia Cooper Dyke spent an invisible decade in European leagues before entering the WNBA as a 34-year-old rookie and carrying the Houston Comets to four straight titles. Cynthia Cooper the internal auditor uncovered the largest corporate fraud in American history at WorldCom, running secret late-night server queries to expose a $3.8 billion lie.

• How Title IX's timing shaped an athlete born in 1963
• Why dominating a new league at 34 ...