Voting Now Open For Sports Academy Award

The United States Sports Academy’s ballot for “2021 Athlete of the Year” features the year’s most prominent athletes at the Olympic, professional and collegiate levels. Voting is open until 5 p.m. on January 14. Nominees for “Male Athlete of the Year” include the following: Canelo Alvarez, boxing, Mexico; Giannis Antetokounmpo, basketball, Greece; Tom Brady, football, U.S.; Ryan Crouser, athletics, U.S.; Novak Djokovic, tennis, Serbia; Caeleb Dressel, swimming, U.S.; Eliud Kipchoge, marathon, Kenya; Lionel Messi, soccer, Argentina; Shohei Ohtani, baseball, Japan; Andrei Vasilevskiy, hockey, Russia; Karsten Warholm, athletics, Norway; and Bryce Young, football, U.S. Nominees for “Female Athlete of the Year” include the following: Ashleigh Barty, tennis, Australia; Jessie Diggins, cross-country skiing, U.S.; Brittney Griner, basketball, U.S.; Peres Jepchirchir, running, Kenya; Lee Kiefer, fencing, U.S.; Nelly Korda, golf, U.S.; Katie Ledecky, swimming, U.S.; Sunisa Lee, gymnastics, U.S.; Sydney McLaughlin, athletics, U.S.; Athing Mu, athletics, U.S.; Alexia Putellas, soccer, Spain; and Elaine Thompson-Herah, athletics, Jamaica. Each month, the public is invited to participate in the academy’s worldwide “Athlete of the Month” program by nominating athletes and then voting online. The online votes are used to guide the academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who became eligible for selection to the current ballot. “2020 Athletes of the Year” were American figure skater Nathan Chen and American swimmer Lilly King.