Despite his 6-month suspension and “mutual withdrawal” from the United States’ World Championship team, Michael Phelps has surged back into the lead in fan-voting for the 2014 Golden Goggles Awards.
With the Golden Goggles awards gala, designed as a fund-raiser for the USA Swimming Foundation, still a month away, fan voting has heated up for Phelps.
As best we can tell, somewhere north of 14,000 ballots have been submitted (though they haven’t all been complete ballots). Phelps leads the voting in all three categories for which he’s been nominated (Perseverance Award, Male Race of the Year, and Male Athlete of the Year). The closest battle among those is Male Athlete of the Year, where with 45% of the vote, he has a 1060-vote lead on Connor Jaeger.
His coach, Bob Bowman, is also currently in the lead for Coach of the Year with 35% of the vote over Bruce Gemmell (27%).
What’s most interesting about the results so far is that categories in which Phelps is a named candidate have received many more votes than those categories in which Phelps is not a named candidate. After his voting percentages initially plummeted following news of the arrest, they have rebounded three weeks later.
The results seem to have devolved as much a referendum on what the backlash should be against the winningest swimmer of all-time as it is a vote of who actually deserves the awards. This is indicated by the fact that vote totals have spiked both for Phelps and for those competing against Phelps.
For example, Connor Jaeger, the second-highest vote recipient thus far for Male Athlete of the Year, has 4195 votes, good for 36% of the tally. In the women’s category, the top vote-getter Katie Ledecky has just 4,270 votes – less than a hundred more – which is good for 59% of the vote. This is a trend that continues in all categories for which Phelps is a named nominee (he technically is eligible for a fourth award as well, as part of the 400 medley relay, but is not named on the ballot).
See below for the voting results as of approximately noon Eastern Time on Monday, October 20th. Click here to cast your own ballot!
How did you hear about the online voting?
13%1784 Votes – Other
7%1002 Votes – USA Swimming Website
54%7650 Votes – USA Swimming Foundation Website
17%2336 Votes – Facebook
9%1298 Votes – Twitter
Breakout Performer of the Year
10%806 Votes – Kendyl Stewart
20%1649 Votes – Ryan Murphy
15%1271 Votes – Cierra Runge
45%3752 Votes – Katie McLaughlin
10%804 Votes – Maya DiRado
Perseverance Award
22%2176 Votes – Missy Franklin
6%590 Votes – Kevin Cordes
46%4576 Votes – Michael Phelps
12%1140 Votes – Tom Shields
14%1429 Votes – Open Water Gold Medalists: Haley Anderson & Andrew Gemmell
Coach of the Year
35%2441 Votes – Bob Bowman
17%1183 Votes – Dave Durden
27%1895 Votes – Bruce Gemmell
20%1372 Votes – David Marsh
Relay Performance of the Year
22%1466 Votes – Men’s 4x200m Free Relay – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
27%1789 Votes – Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
51%3382 Votes – Women’s 4x200m Free Relay – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
Female Race of the Year
46%3190 Votes – Katie Ledecky – 1500m Free, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
11%760 Votes – Jessica Hardy – 100m Breast, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
31%2167 Votes – Katie Ledecky – 400m Free, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
7%498 Votes – Cammile Adams – 200m Fly, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
5%365 Votes – Maya DiRado – 200m IM, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
Male Race of the Year
13%1563 Votes – Tyler Clary – 200m Back, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
33%3792 Votes – Connor Jaeger – 1500m Free, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
11%1228 Votes – Nic Fink – 200m Breast, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
43%5054 Votes – Michael Phelps – 100m Fly, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
Female Athlete of the Year
59%4270 Votes – Katie Ledecky
27%1973 Votes – Missy Franklin
5%370 Votes – Maya DiRado
9%650 Votes – Elizabeth Beisel
Male Athlete of the Year
36%4195 Votes – Connor Jaeger
45%5255 Votes – Michael Phelps
18%2118 Votes – Tyler Clary
Gemmell? He’s got 2 National Teamers… Bowman put 7 on the team.
Swim Mac put 11 on the team (not sure who coached whom) and Cal’s Durden put 7 on the team. Even McKeever put 4 on the team, more than Gemmell, and wasn’t even nominated.
So, size up the medals…world rankings….
Katie is one freakish machine vs building an army of talent.
Phelps: He isn’t an addict or alcoholic. He trains for years with discipline, then goes out and overdoes it while he’s on “leave” for a month before having to eat, sleep, swim again for the next 2 years…yeah, he absolutely shouldn’t have driven that car in BOTH instances, but let’s be fair and take away… Read more »
I hope Michael wins Athlete of The Year. It definitely beats being on Celebrity Rehab…
well, this news made my heart dances on monday’s evening! 😀
yaaaaa…Phelps Phans, u guys rock… just keep on voting for the greatest of all time.
whenever MP hits the pool again, i’ll be the 1st one to watch.
i dont really care about the Perseverance Award…but MP should win the Male Athlete of The Year & Male Race OTY. hey people, it’s impossible not to vote for Phelps in these 2 categories…kekeke 😀 USA swimming certainly knows this better than all of us here.
next good news in the coming months…
USA swimming announces: “Michael Phelps returns to the pool and will compete at 2015 WC in Kanzar.” 😀 😀 😀 BEST. CHRISTMAS. PRESENT. EVER.
Oh, I am more than sure they’ll let him swim in KANZAR https://goo.gl/maps/Y9XZB
It won’t be easy to get there, though.
When is Dwyer going to officially announce his move to Trojan? Any word Braden?
Who is at NBAC now?
Was wondering whether this is official. I think McLean, Luschinger and Schmitt are still there.
McLean is at South Carolina now with Bernadino. Schmitt hasn’t been swimming – she has been at clinics and is off to Germany for Adidas photo shoot according to her Twitter. I think the top NBAC swimmers in training right now are Luchsinger, Friis, Long, and Mann, (and Phelps at rehab).
Perseverance award going to someone with not one but two DUIs under their belt? This is why all of the other countries in the world can’t take the United States seriously.
Bowman coach of the year? HAHAHAHAHA! What a joke.
i dont see this is a joke at all. how many Olympians has been coached by Bowman in the past 15yrs??
u name it.
*have
I agree, it was just a bad year for almost everyone at NBAC. It doesn´t mean that the program does not work.
Yeah but it’s also based on this past year, not the last 15 years. I don’t think he should get it
So people are quick to say Bowman shouldn’t be coach of the year, but I haven’t heard anyone make a case for another coach?
Bruce should win. Not even debatable. You could see Ledecky’s improvement every year under his guidance. Bowman is a great coach but not this year. This award is for THIS YEAR. This is not a lifetime coaching award. Geez.
I would have voted perseverence award to Lochte ! he did great after recovering from the knee injury with pretty decent performances overall . Without his solid relay split on the 800 free relay , Usa was second to Japan , that’s clear .
Totally agree. I voted for Shields, but Lochte would have been the best choice. Lochte fought back twice from injury, had to do so much faster than anyone thought possible, and still posted world-class swims. He could have easily bagged the season, but he never gave up.
dont forget that…w/o Phelps in the 4x200free relay….USA could have taken silver too 😀
yep team USA was very lucky to have both Phelps & Lochte on their team.
Tom Shields. Should be a slam dunk.
Tom Shields is a choker and a liability in the LC for International events. If Phelps doesn’t win, then I’ll rather vote for Haley Anderson & Andrew Gemmell. At least they produced results.
Currently 4th out of 5 in the category so apparently the voters don’t agree with your sentiment 🙂
I’m sure you voted multiple times just to make a point together with his relatives and obsessed fanatics. LOL. Tom Shields doesn’t even belong in there. He’s not a world class swimmer. He’s a choker and a liability for Team USA. I would never trust him for my team even if my life will depend on it.