2024 Golden Goggle Awards
- November 23, 2024
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Livestream
- 2024 Nominees
- SwimSwam Official Ballot
Torri Huske takes home the goggles for female athlete of the year. Her standout performance at the Paris Olympics helped her earn the award.
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 at 55.59. Huske was out 3rd at the 50, but turned around and was the only woman to split a 29 second 50 on the last leg of the race, helping her to the victory. Huske just missed the podium by .01 in this event at the last Olympic Games in 2021.
Huske also won a silver in the women’s 100m freestyle with a personal best time of 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. She split 51.88 on this relay, the fastest time in the field. The US won this relay by just over a tenth of a second, Huske splitting faster than the freestyle for China by .08.
Huske also swam on the world record women’s 4×100 medley relay where she also swam freestyle. This relay was not close with the US winning by 3 and a half seconds over the Australians, but Huske still split a 52.42 anchoring the relay to hold onto first.
The last relay she was a part of was the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay where the US won second. Australia won this relay pretty handedly, but Huske’s 3rd leg was crucial in the United States victory over China’s 3rd place team by exactly a tenth. Huske split a 52.06, faster than anyone on China’s relay, and 7 tenths faster than their 3rd swimmer Zhang Yufei. This split helped get the United States in the lead, allowing Simone Manuel to bring home the win, even though her split was slower than Wu Qingfeng(the anchor for China) was, 52.61 to 52.31.
Huske had an amazing meet, but how can this not be Ledecky’s award?
She’s the first female swimmer ever to 4-peat and did it under more pressure than she’s ever faced by huge talents, when she is also no longer at her peak. And she also had 2 individual golds and less relay opportunities than Tori.
How was it not Katie???
Congrats, 简爱！
Ledecky deserved it
Strongly agreed. Ledecky didn’t get three relays where she swam the same event. She got two golds and a bronze in distance events, unprecedented for a woman her age. First woman to fourpeat at anything in the Olympics, and an Olympic record.
Women’s distance events are like dominating Conference USA in football
Totally agree. Big fan of Huske, what she did can’t be understated. Stepping up under huge pressure, especially after missing out by 0.01 in Tokyo.
But what Ledecky did was unprecedented, and should’ve been recognised as such.
I commented many times that Ledecky is always punished for her past achievements and consistency. Her winning times in 800 and 1500 were faster than the PBs of anyone else in history but people don’t appreciate it anymore. People regard her victory as easy wins but being at the top for more than 10 years consecutively is actually much much more difficult than anything else. See Franklin, Dressel, Peaty, Milak, Meilutyte etc. etc. How Ledecky is permanently motivated is impressive.
Award or not, how you don’t put Ledecky (now the most decorated US female Olympian ever in ANY sport) on stage in some speaking or promotional capacity at your Foundation’s biggest ($2000 a ticket) fundraiser–held in a city where this summer she was the only swimmer to win four Olympic Trials events–is a bit of a headscratcher. Meanwhile, Rowdy Gaines: “I play with Barbies and pee sitting down.”
Nah. Torri won the gold medal in an event where she upset the current world record holder. She also won an unexpected silver medal in the 100 free, plus helped set a relay world record.
The award isn’t for being unexpected, or youngest, or newest. It’s for being the best. KL had 2 gold and a bronze. She should have won
Katie Ledecky has won this award so many times – her achievements are unprecedented. But Torri was the MVP swimmer on the female side. She anchored two world record setting relays, won the 100 fly, and got silver in the most competitive race in swimming.
Both of them deserved it but a tied would be appropriate after they did it last year with Ledecky and Douglass .
I beg to differ. It’s shortsighted.
Kate Douglass swam at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships, 2024 Summer Olympics, 2024 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup. Unlike Kate Douglass, Torri Huske did not even break one American Record (LCM, SCM).
Keep begging.
And? They were all deserving. Torri was apart of TWO World Records and an American Record from the free relay
And she CLUTCH during the mixed medley relay.