Who Should Win the Golden Goggle Award for Female Athlete of the Year? (VOTE HERE!)
The voting for the Golden Goggle Awards closed a few days ago, and the winners of the five categories will be announced in during USA Swimming’s annual gala event. This year, the event is scheduled for Sept. 27 in Denver.
An argument can be made that this year’s toughest category to select is Female Athlete of the Year, where a quartet of world champions have been nominated: Katharine Berkoff; Kate Douglass; Katie Ledecky; and Gretchen Walsh. Each woman excelled at the World Championships in Singapore, where the American women performed superbly, despite illness that plagued Team USA before and during the competition.
While Berkoff captured gold in the 50 backstroke, Douglass set an American record en route to the title in the women’s 200 breaststroke. As for Ledecky (800 freestyle/1500 freestyle) and Walsh (50 butterfly/100 butterfly), they collected two individual gold medals apiece. These athletes, too, excelled beyond the World Championships, including Walsh (100 butterfly) and Ledecky (800 freestyle) setting world records during the campaign.
In this latest Swimming World poll, we’re asking readers to cast their vote for who they think deserves to be named Female Athlete of the Year at the Golden Goggle Awards.