A Look at the Golden Goggles Awards, Brought to You by USA Swimming

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, October 18. USA Swimming is making a new venture into marketing our sport with an ambitious foray into the world of high end recognitions events.

The Golden Goggles Awards are coming in less than a month to the publicity capital of the world, New York City.

We are eager to welcome the first of what will hopefully be a long term annual event with the clout to draw a television audience to see us recognize our best in an entertaining, fun and first class fashion. USA Swimming has been previewing this event for a few weeks and just issued a description of the known participants and award categories.

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With Short Course Worlds over, athletes and members of the world of swimming have some down time to kick their feet up and relax. That is, until the Golden Goggles Awards next month. November 15 will mark the inaugural awards at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. Swimming legends will join celebrities to celebrate this year’s swimming accomplishments and raise money for the USA Swimming Foundation. USA Swimming has a great emcee lined up, as well as some truly unforgettable legends in the sport.

The Emcee

Bob Costas will be emcee of the inaugural Golden Goggles Awards, to be held November 15. Winner of 16 Emmy Awards, Costas is considered one of the most respected and honored broadcasters of his generation.

The 2004 Athens Games were Costas’ sixth with NBC. Costas won Emmy Awards for his work as primetime host from Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and, most recently, Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Games.

Costas has also provided opening commentary for the U.S. Open and Visa Triple Crown, among others. Costas has received Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association eight times. Costas has won acclaim since 2001 as host of HBO’s weekly show “On The Record” and “Inside the NFL”.

The Awards

The Coach of the Year award will be given to the coach whose athlete(s) performed at the highest level throughout the year with an emphasis on Olympic achievement. The winner will be determined out of a pool of three finalists through voting by an expert panel.

Relay Performance of the Year will be given to the best team relay performance, male or female. Relays considered must be a final with emphasis given on Olympic achievement. The winner will be determined out of a pool of three finalists through voting by an expert panel.

The Legend
Four-time gold medalist John Naber will be among the presenters of the night’s awards. Naber won his four golds along with a silver medal in the 1976 Olympic Games and broke four world records in the process. His gold medals were in the 100m back, 200m back, 800m free relay and the 400m medley relay. In 1976 he was named Male Swimmer of the Year and Southern California Athlete of the Year. Naber earned 17 U.S. National backstroke titles and set 12 American backstroke records during his career. In 1977 he received the Sullivan Award and the trophy of the International Committee for Fair Play. It was the first time an American swimmer was honored with the award.

Naber has kept ties to the Olympics, serving on the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Today he works as a commentator for ABC Sports. He has served as play-by-play host for thirty different Olympic sports. Naber is also president of U.S. Olympians, an association of over 6,000 American Olympic alumni, and president of "Naber & Associates, Inc." a consulting firm that specializes in sports-related marketing.

He has written two books, "Awaken the Olympian Within… Stories from America's Greatest Olympic Motivators" and "Eureka! How Innovation Changes the Olympic Games (and Everything Else)”.

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