Katie Ledecky has been named Sportswoman of the Year for 2017 by the Women’s Sports Federation. She becomes the fifth swimmer to win the award since 1993.
Ledecky was honored at the WSF’s 38th Annual Salute to Women in Sports awards gala this week. Ledecky was one of several keynote awards, winning the individual sport Sportswoman of the Year title. The team sport award went to Maya Moore of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.
Ledecky joins four other swimmers to win the award since its origins in 1993. Most recent was Missy Franklin, who won the award in 2013.
Here’s a look at previous aquatic winners of the Sportswoman of the Year honor:
- Amy van Dyken, 1996
- Jenny Thompson, 2000
- Natalie Coughlin, 2003
- Missy Franklin, 2013
- Katie Ledecky, 2017
Interestingly, all five winners have Pac-12 ties from their collegiate careers. Ledecky and Thompson both represented Stanford, Franklin and Coughlin Cal, and Van Dyken competed for Arizona for her first two years.
A few other major awards went to high-profile women alongside Ledecky. Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice was given the Billie Jean King Leadership award, with WSF founder and former tennis star King herself in attendance, and the 2017 U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team was honored with the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award.
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2017 is nowhere near finished .
KL should get every award there is to be given out. They shouldn’t even ever consider anyone else for ANY female awards, EVER…
Interesting. So she had arguably her worst year in the last 5 years and wins the award. These subjective awards are so…. subjective.
The time period of consideration was July 31, 2016 to July 31, 2017. Arguably her best year if you combine what she did at Olympics, NCAA and Worlds
4 golds and 1 silver in last olympics(2016) then, 5 golds and 1 silver in last worlds (2017)— worst year?????
So she misses 2016 but gets 2017?