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American annual sports award
The first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press (AP) in 1931. At a time when women in sports were not given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of the year award to either a professional or amateur athlete . The awards are voted on annually by a panel of AP sports editors from across the United States, covering mainly American sports. As a result, a large majority of the winners have been Americans. However, non-Americans are also eligible for the honor and have won on a few occasions.
AP Athlete of the Year
Multiple awards
List of male award winners
Name
Sport
Awards
Years
Lance Armstrong Road bicycle racing
4
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Tiger Woods Golf
4
1997, 1999, 2000, 2006
LeBron James Basketball
4
2013, 2016, 2018, 2020
Michael Jordan Basketball
3
1991, 1992, 1993
Don Budge Tennis
2
1937, 1938
Sandy Koufax Baseball
2
1963, 1965
Carl Lewis Track and field
2
1983, 1984
Joe Montana American football
2
1989, 1990
Byron Nelson Golf
2
1944, 1945
Shohei Ohtani Baseball
2
2021, 2023
Michael Phelps Swimming
2
2008, 2012
List of female award winners
Name
Sport
Awards
Years
Babe Didrikson Golf/Track and field
6
1932, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1954
Serena Williams Tennis
5
2002, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018
Chris Evert Tennis
4
1974, 1975, 1977, 1980
Maureen Connolly Tennis
3
1951, 1952, 1953
Annika Sörenstam Golf
3
2003, 2004, 2005
Simone Biles Gymnastics
3
2016, 2019, 2023
Alice Marble Tennis
2
1939, 1940
Althea Gibson Tennis
2
1957, 1958
Wilma Rudolph Track and field
2
1960, 1961
Mickey Wright Golf
2
1963, 1964
Kathy Whitworth Golf
2
1965, 1966
Billie Jean King Tennis
2
1967, 1973
Tracy Austin Golf
2
1979, 1981
Nancy Lopez Golf
2
1978, 1985
Martina Navratilova Tennis
2
1983, 1986
Monica Seles Tennis
2
1991, 1992
Lorena Ochoa Golf
2
2006, 2007
Candace Parker Basketball
2
2008, 2021
Katie Ledecky Swimming
2
2017, 2022
AP Athlete of the Decade
^ Became a U.S. citizen in 1994.
^ "Tiger AP's Male Athlete Of Year" . CBS News . Associated Press. December 27, 1999. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .^ Ferguson, Doug (December 27, 2000). "Year of the Tiger" . Missoulian . Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ "Barry Bonds Voted The Associated Press Male of the Year" . Jet 101 (4): 52. January 12, 2002. Retrieved March 15, 2019 – via Google Books.^ Vertuino, Jim (December 27, 2002). "Armstrong named AP Athlete of the Year Perseverance: Four-time Tour de France champion tops Bonds" . The Brownsville Herald . Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ "NAMES & GAMES Lance Armstrong: AP Male Athlete of the Year" . New Haven Register . December 29, 2003. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .^ Vertuno, Jim (December 29, 2004). "Armstrong, Sorenstam honored as athletes of year" . Deseret News . Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ "Lance Armstrong wins AP male athlete honours" . Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. December 28, 2005. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .^ "Woods wins AP male athlete award for 2006" . Orlando Sentinel . December 26, 2006. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .^ Flannery, Paul (December 21, 2007). "Tom Brady's Charmed Year Continues" . Boston . Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ "Michael Phelps Named The Associated Press Top Sports Story, AP Male Athlete of 2008" . Swimming World . December 24, 2008. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .^ "Johnson is AP's top male athlete of '09" . Associated Press (ESPN.com). December 21, 2009. Retrieved 2010-08-30 .^ Triplett, Mike (December 18, 2010). "New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees fourth QB to be named AP Athlete of the Year" . The Times-Picayune . Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ Markovich, Tony (December 21, 2011). "Associated Press Votes Aaron Rodgers 2011 Male Athlete of the Year" . Complex . Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ "Michael Phelps Named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year" . Swimming World . December 20, 2012. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .^ Schilken, Chuck (December 26, 2013). "LeBron James named Associated Press' male athlete of the year" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ "Madison Bumgarner gets AP honor" . Associated Press (via ESPN.com). December 30, 2014. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2014 .^ "Davis wins AP Female Athlete of the Year honors - NBC Sports | NBC Sports" . Archived from the original on 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2015-12-30 .^ Herbert, James (December 26, 2015). "Warriors' Stephen Curry named AP Male Athlete of the Year" . CBS Sports . Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019 . ^ Withers, Tom (December 27, 2016). "Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James named AP Male Athlete of Year" . The News-Herald . Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019 . ^ "Astros star Jose Altuve named AP Male Athlete of the Year" . ESPN.com . Retrieved December 27, 2017 .^ Beth Harris (2017-12-26). "Katie Ledecky Swims to AP Female Athlete of the Year Honors" . The Washington Post . Retrieved 2017-12-26 . [dead link ] ^ Holleran, Andrew (December 27, 2018). "Associated Press Names Its 2018 Male Athlete Of The Year" . thespun.com . Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019 . ^ Mahoney, Brian (December 26, 2018). "Serena voted AP Female Athlete of the Year for 5th time" . The Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019 . ^ "Kawhi Leonard and Simone Biles Are AP's Athletes of the Year" . complex.com . December 28, 2019. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019 .^ "One of a kind: Ohtani wins AP Male Athlete of Year award" . apnews.com/ . December 28, 2021. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2021 .^ "Candace Parker voted AP Female Athlete of Year for 2nd time" . Associated Press Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2021 .
Notes
National Regional Continental World
Pepper Martin
Gunder Hägg
Fanny Blankers-Koen
Herb Elliott
Maria Bueno
Rafer Johnson
Chi Cheng
Olga Korbut
Nadia Comăneci
Wayne Gretzky
Steffi Graf
Monica Seles[1]
Monica Seles (2)
Martina Hingis
Se Ri Pak
Lorena Ochoa
Jose Altuve[21]
Naomi Osaka