2024 Golden Goggle Awards- Live Recap

2024 Golden Goggle Awards

• November 23, 2024
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Livestream
• 2024 Nominees
• SwimSwam Official Ballot

This year’s Golden Goggle Awards are tonight at 7pm EST in Indianapolis, Indiana. The ceremony will be held at the Indianapolis Marriott downtown. This is the 20th anniversary of the event, and, due to the Olympic year, will be highlighting the performances of the 2024 Paris Olympic Team. The event is live streaming on USA swimming’s website.

t’s important to note that these awards are largely based on performances from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Elizabeth Beisel is subbing in for Kaitlin Sandeno, who recently announced that she and her husband are expecting their first child. Beisel is co-hosting with Brendan Hansen, the new USA National Junior Team Director.

Walkouts: In the walkouts, the Walsh siblings were paired together (it goes alphabetically), but the Shackell siblings were split up. Missed a killer photo op for their parents. If we assigned winners for walkouts, Katharine Berkoff and Drew Kibler‘s would win our gold medal.

Presenter Fun Facts: Mallory Comerford and Clark Burckle, wife-and-husband Olympians, are the first husband and wife pair to present an award together at Golden Goggles!

There will be a 45 minute dinner break after the Alumni Award

Breakout Performer of the Year: Gretchen Walsh

• Nominees: Luke Hobson, Aaron Shackell, Alex Shackell, Gretchen Walsh

Gretchen Walsh had an incredibly Olympic year, setting a world record in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Olympic Trials and winning 2 golds and 2 silvers at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Walsh placed 2nd in the 100m butterfly in Paris to fellow American Torri Huske, and she was a crucial member of 3 United States relays, 2 of which set world records. Walsh swam fly on the women’s 4×100 medley relay and the 4×100 mixed medley relay which both won gold and set world records.

Walsh has been on the National Team before this year, and even medaled at last year’s World Championships in Fukuoka with a bronze in the 50, butterfly. This was Walsh’s first Olympic team as she missed the team in 2021, her highest placement being 4th in the 50 free finals.

Male Race of the Year: Bobby Finke 1500m freestyle

• Nominees: Nic Fink 100m breaststroke, Bobby Finke 1500m freestyle, Luke Hobson 200m freestyle

Unsurprisingly, Bobby Finke‘s 1500m world record, and the only male individual medal of the Olympic games, won Male race of the year.

Finke’s 1500m freestyle was a unique race for him as he led from start to finish, rather than holding on until the last 50 to pass people. Finke broke Sun Yang’s 2012 Olympics record by a little less than half a second, holding on through Yang’s monster last 50 split to go 14:30.67.

Finke is the third swimmer to win this award 4 times. The other two? Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky.

Female Race of the Year: Torri Huske (100m butterfly)

• Nominees: Kate Douglass (200m breaststroke), Katie Ledecky (1500m Freestyle), Torri Huske (100m butterfly)

Torri Huske‘s 100 fly in finals at the Olympic Games was electric. She was competing with world record holder Gretchen Walsh, and the reigning world champion Zhang Yufei.

Huske was in 3rd at the 50, but was the only woman in the field to split a 29 on the last 50 to win the event by just 4 one hundredths of a second. She missed the podium in this event by 1 one hundredth in 2021.

USA Swimming Impact Award: Arlene McDonald

Arlene McDonald is the event coordinator at the IU Natatorium, and she was the event coordinator of the US Olympic Trials in Indiana as well.

McDonald has been helping host national meets in Indianapolis for years, and in 2008 she was asked to be the meet director for the Olympic Trials, where she did such a good job, she secured the position for 2012, 2016, and 2020, and eventually this year’s trials in 2024. The biggest US Swimming Trials in history.

Alumni of the Year: Rowdy Gaines

The Alumni of the Year Award is a brand new award added to the program this year. The award is presented to a National Team alumni who continues to give back to the sport after retirement.

Rowdy Gaines has been an absolute staple in the sport of swimming since 1978. His voice has become almost synonymous with Olympic swimming as the voice of the NBC broadcasts, and he has been halping the layman understand swimming since 1996. His commentary helps make swimming accessible to even the most novice spectator, and has helped grow swimming to one of the most watched Olympic sports.

Foundation Impact Award: Scott and Lorraine Davison

Scott Davison is the Chairman, President and CEO of OneAmerica Financial have been partners with USA Swimming since 2022. He and his wife, Lorraine, help sponsor learn to swim efforts around the state of Indiana. Davison also served as a co-chair for the Local Organizing Committee of the 2024 team trials in Indianapolis

Relay Performance of the Year: Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay

• Nominees: Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Mixed 4x100m medley relay, Women’s 4x100m medley relay

The women’s 4×100 medley relay were the gold medalists at the 2024 Olympics and they broke the 2019 world record in the process. Regan Smith (57.28), Lilly King (1:04.90), Gretchen Walsh (55.03), and Torri Huske (52.42) won the event by over 3 seconds, beating the reigning Olympic Champions the Australians.

The women won this event in 2016, but lost in 2021 to Australia, so this win helped them take their title back.

Perseverance Award: Paige Madden

Nominees: Caeleb Dressel, Paige Madden, Simone Manuel, Emma Weyant

Paige Madden made her second Olympic team this summer at the age of 25. Madden competed at the 2021 Olympics, placing 7th in the 400 free and helping the US win silver in the 4×200 freestyle relay. She missed the world championships team in 2022, and ended up taking the rest of the summer off to find her love of the sport again.

This year, Madden made the Olympic team again, on the 4×200 free relay, and in the 800m freestyle. This year she won a bronze medal in the 800 free, sharing the podium with champion Katie Ledecky, and she again helped the team to a silver medal in the 4×200 free relay.

In her speech tonight, Madden said she found her love for the sport again.

Fran Crippen Open Water Swimmer of the Year: Katie Grimes

Nominees: Katie Grimes, Mariah Denigan, Ivan Puskovitch

Katie Grimes competed in the 10k at the Paris Olympics. She also competed individually in the pool, and became the first pool & open water swimmer for the United States women.

In her 10k, Grimes had to deal with the questionable water in the Seine, and battle the current the athletes had to swim against. Grimes placed 15th in the event at the Games, which was the highest of any US open water athlete

Coach of the Year: Todd DeSorbo

Nominees: Bob Bowman, Todd DeSorbo, Greg Meehan, Anthony Nesty

Todd DeSorbo is the head coach at the University of Virginia, and he put 5 swimmers on the 2024 US Olympic team, all women.

DeSorbo coached Gretchen Walsh to 4 medals, 2 gold and 2 silver, Kate Douglass to 4 medals, 2 gold and 2 silver, Paige Madden to 2 medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze, and Emma Weber and Alex Walsh to Olympic swims, Weber winning a gold on the prelims swim of the 4×100 medley relay. Walsh also won a medal, 3rd in the 200 IM, before she got DQd for her crossover turn. 

DeSorbo was also the head coach of the US women’s Olympic team who were at least partially responsible for 6 of the 8 gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Male Athlete of the Year: Bobby Finke

Nominees: Nic Fink, Bobby Finke, Ryan Murphy

Bobby Finke won his second ever Male Athlete of the Year Award at this evening’s Golden Goggles. His performance at the 2024 Olympic Games led to a new world record, and the only individual medal on the men’s side of the meet. 

Finke won two individual medals at the 2024 Olympic Games. The first was a silver in the men’s 800m freestyle. The second was the event that won him an award earlier tonight, the men’s 1500m freestyle where he won the gold medal, and set the world record.

Female Athlete of the Year: Torri Huske

Nominees: Katie Ledecky, Kate Douglass, Regan Smith, Torri Huske, Gretchen Walsh

Female athlete of the year went to Torri Huske. Huske won 3 golds and two silvers at the Paris Olympics this summer, two of which were individual events. Her first medal of the games came in the women’s 100m fly where she surpassed fellow American and world-record holder Gretchen Walsh to win the gold. Huske also won a silver in the women’s 100m freestyle with a 52.29, ranking her the second American of all time after only Simone Manuel

Huske was also the member of three crucial relays for the US swim team, two of which set new world records. The first was the mixed-medley relay where she swam freestyle, the women’s medley relay where she swam freestyle as well, and the women’s 4×100 free relay that won the silver.