Manaudou Named USSA Female August Athlete of the Month

DAPHNE, Alabama, September 13. THE United States Sports Academy recently named Laure Manaoudou, along with Tiger Woods, its August Athletes of the Month. The USSA Athlete of the Month is selected by an international voting committee comprised of former athletes, media, sports organizations and governing bodies. The Athlete of the Month culminates at the end of the year with the Athlete of the Year worldwide vote hosted by USATODAY.com. Winners from each Athlete of the Month are automatically added to the Athlete of the Year ballot

Manaudou improved her world record in the 400-meter freestyle and won seven medals (four gold) at the European Swimming Championships. She broke her own world record in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:02.13 and won the gold in the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter individual medley and the 800-meter freestyle. She also won the bronze in the 200 freestyle and was on the team that won the bronze medal in the 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay.

Other swimmers finishing high in the balloting were Michael Phelps, who set three world records and won six medals (five gold) at the Pan Pacific Championships. He set world records in the 200 individual medley, the 200 butterfly and the 400 freestyle. That came up just shy of Woods’ remarkable run.

Second in the female category was Britta Steffen. The German swimmer also won four gold medals and set a world record at the European Championships. Her world mark was in the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.30. She also helped her national team set world records in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:50.82 and the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:35.22. Steffen won the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.87.

Ed Odeven contributed to this report

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