USA Swimming‘s annual Golden Goggles Awards show will take on a bit of a new look in 2021, with the event set to be held in Miami for the first time on December 7.
The red-carpet gala awards show has traditionally been hosted in either New York or Los Angeles in mid-to-late November.
Miami was initially slated to host the 2020 event, which ended up being done virtually due to the pandemic and travel restrictions.
As for the slight change in date, USA Swimming told SwimSwam that the event was moved back a few weeks in order to accommodate athletes scheduled to be competing in the International Swimming League (ISL) playoffs, which will run from November 11-28 in Naples, Italy.
Set to be hosted at the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach, the Golden Goggles will return to its traditional format after last year, with the stars of the Tokyo Olympic Games being recognized for their accomplishments and contributions live and in-person.
The awards presented annually include:
- Female Athlete of the Year (2019 winner: Simone Manuel)
- Male Athlete of the Year (2019 winner: Caeleb Dressel)
- Breakout Performer of the Year (2019 winner: Regan Smith)
- Coach of the Year (2019 winner: Mike Parratto)
- Perseverance Award (2019 winner: Nathan Adrian)
- Relay Performance of the Year (2019 winner: women’s 4×100 medley relay, 2019 Worlds)
- Female Race of the Year (2019 winner: Regan Smith, 200 backstroke, 2019 Worlds)
- Male Race of the Year (2019 winner: Caeleb Dressel, 100 butterfly, 2019 Worlds)
The event also includes dinner and a silent auction.
Without any major meets last year, USA Swimming honored the 1980 U.S. Olympic team and front-line workers during the 2020 event.
Nice they made the adjustment for the pros, but not a great time for college swimmers with finals…
Sun Yangs Hammer for commenter of the year
Swim swam comment awards don’t sound like too much of a bad idea actually.