USA Swimming has announced their nominees for the 2014 Golden Goggles awards: the organization’s biggest annual awards spectacular.
This year’s event will take place on November 24th, 2013 at the JW Marriott and LA Live in Los Angeles, California.
You can vote online through this link.
We’ll give our choices later, but for now, these are the nominees that you can choose from. There’s not a whole lot of surprises on the list, though it does highlight something that I think not a lot of us really processed until now: the nominees for Male and Female Athletes of the Year are only individual gold medalists from the World Championships. There were only two men and two women who took individual gold medals at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona.
Breakout Performer of the Year
Jimmy Feigen
Chase Kalisz
Simone Manuel
Michael McBroom
Perseverance Award
Eugene Godsoe
Elizabeth Pelton
David Plummer
Megan Romano
Coach of the Year
Rick DeMont
Bruce Gemmell
Dave Salo
Todd Schmitz
Gregg Troy
Relay Performance of the Year
Women’s 4x100m Free Relay – 2013 FINA World Championships
Women’s 4x200m Free Relay – 2013 FINA World Championships
Men’s 4x200m Free Relay – 2013 FINA World Championships
Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay – 2013 FINA World Championships
Female Race of the Year
Missy Franklin – 200m Free – 2013 FINA World Championships
Katie Ledecky – 800m Free – 2013 FINA World Championships
Katie Ledecky – 1500m Free – 2013 FINA World Championships
Haley Anderson – 5K Open Water – 2013 FINA World Championships
Male Race of the Year
Matt Grevers – 100m Back – 2013 FINA World Championships
Ryan Lochte – 200m Back – 2013 FINA World Championships
Ryan Lochte – 200m IM – 2013 FINA World Championships
Female Athlete of the Year
Haley Anderson
Missy Franklin
Katie Ledecky
Male Athlete of the Year
Matt Grevers
Ryan Lochte
I’m surprised there’s no “swim of the year” award.
That would go to Ledecky’s 400 free.
I think you are very correct with Katie Ledecky getting performer of the year. At only 16 and breaking the 1500 free~she has demonstrated athleticism to the nth degree. I can hardly wait for next year as she will continue to improve.
As I type this, in the relay performance category, w4x100free has 27% and w4x200 free gets 37%.
I wonder if people actually watch them live.
in w4x100free, the US girls performed 130% to win against Aussie girls who performed 110%.
in w4x200 free the US girls performed 80% (with the exception of Missy) to win against Aussie girls who performed 70%
IMO, they should have only put up one of Ledecky’s individual swims to prevent vote-splitting in the category.
I agree. And that would be the 1,500 free. That race is probably the best race since Thorpe-Hoogie-Phelps in 2004 Athens 200 free.
2 other remarks.
Thanks to Mr Keith, I have just realized there have been just 2 girls with individual gold medals , but with 6 titles, and just 2 boys with individual gold medals, with only 3 titles.
And it’s crazy to think Missy Franklin will not win an individual award this year while she has won 6 gold medals in Barcelona!
The superstars have been the girls this year.
My picks.
Breakout performer of the year.
JIMMY FEIGEN
Really tough to choice but I go with him. I believe no many people thought he would win the 100 free silver medal in Barcelona. Perhaps the beginning of something big for him.
Perseverance award.
DAVID PLUMMER
The competition is so hard in the American men’s backstroke.
First individual medal of his career.
And he’s the oldest swimmer of the nominees. 🙂
Coach of the year.
BRUCE GEMMELL
Not easy to replace Mr Suguiyama and train a girl who has already won an olympic gold medal. There was a big pression on him. And it… Read more »
I will totally go with your picks BOBO . Can’t argue anything . just perfect ! thanks
Good choices Bobo but I’d go with Godsoe for Perseverance Award. Plummer has been on world champ teams and several national teams in the past. Godsoe has been around just a long but to see him switch it up to concentrate on fly and make the team is very deserving.
You’re right about Godsoe. I have much hesitated. But my choice goes to Plummer because he has won a medal after several tries and he swims the most competitive race in USA on the men’s side, the 100 back.
yeah, i think he’s gonna be atleast 90%. he might miss one. i can’t see how they would go any different except relay performance
USA w4x100 free must be the definite lock for best relay performance.
If not for the fantastic swims of ALL their four swimmers, they would have lost badly to Australia who went way under previous textile record.
Bobo,
I agree with all of your choices. Any other way would be injustice. LOL not really.. but yeahh… 🙂
Correction. About Bruce Gemmell. His swimmer has continued to improve a lot.
You and Mel gotta coordinate more on these posts, I almost just had an aneurysm trying to figure out what was going on.
Genie for Perserverance!!