In addition to Katie Ledecky both the “Best Athlete—Women’s Sports” and the “Best Olympian—Women’s Sports” awards at the 2022 ESPY Awards (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards), American swimmers Caeleb Dressel, Jessica Long, and Brad Snyder also claimed awards during last night’s show.
The ESPYs are awards presented to athletes annually to celebrate excellence in sport. Presented by both ABC and ESPN networks, the awards show has been running since 1993. Voting for the ESPY awards is based solely on online fan voting run on the ESPN website, and the awards have a distinctly American slant (though is not explicitly limited to American nominees).
This year, there were four swimmers nominated in the online voting process for 5 different awards, meaning that they won every award that they were nominated for. Coming off an Olympic year, it is not uncommon to see multiple swimmers nominated for awards, but the fact that all of the nominated swimmers won their respective awards in a year that saw both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games occur is significant.
American Caeleb Dressel claimed the award for the “Best Olympian – Men’s Sports”. He was nominated in the category alongside Nathan Chen, the 2022 Winter Olympic gold medalist in the men’s free skate, ice sledge hockey Paralympic gold medalist Declan Farmer, and 3-time Paralympic track and field gold medalist Nick Mayhugh.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Dressel led all Americans across all sports by winning 5 gold medals. He claimed individual gold medals in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 100 butterfly, setting a new world record in the latter of the 3 events. Dressel also contributed to gold medals in the men’s 4×100 medley relay and men’s 4×100 freestyle relay, helping Team USA to a world record in the medley relay.
This marks Dressel’s first ESPY award and his first nomination. He joins Michael Phelps as the only swimmers to win this award, as Phelps claimed it in 2009, 2013, and 2017, all of which were post-Olympic years.
Paralympic athletes Jessica Long and Brad Snyder also claimed ESPY Awards, winning the awards for “Best Female Athlete with a Disability” and “Best Male Athlete with a Disability”, respectively.
For Long, this marks her fourth ESPY win in that category, having won the award in 2007, 2012, and 2013 as well. At the 2022 Paralympic Games, Long won gold medals in the S8 200 IM, S8 100 Butterfly, and 4×100 medley relay. She also claimed silver medals in the SB 7 100 breaststroke and S8 400 Freestyle, along with a bronze in the S8 100 backstroke. Long suffers from fibular hemimelia, which resulted in her having her legs amputated as a child. Cyclist/Biathlon athlete Oksana Masters, soccer player Katy Ward, and snowboarder Brenna Huckaby were also nominated in the category alongside Long.
Snyder, a US Navy Veteran who lost his sight in an IED explosion, won his first ESPY award. After winning triple gold medals in swimming at the 2016 Paralympic Games, Snyder competed in the paratriathlon PTVI at the 2020 Paralympic Games. In the event consisting of a 750 m swim, 20 km bike, and 5 km run, Snyder won the gold medal alongside Greg Billington. He was nominated alongside sled hockey player Declan Farmer, track and field star Nick Mayhugh, and table tennis player Ian Seidenfeld.
With their wins, Ledecky, Dressel, Long, and Snyder join the aforementioned Phelps, along with Missy Franklin, Dara Torres, Erin Popovich, and Mallory Weggemann as swimmers who have won ESPYs. The men’s 4×100 freestyle relay from the 2008 Olympic Games also won an ESPY.
Rumours circling about Dressel
And they are??
The ESPYs aren’t based solely on online voting from the fans. Since 2004 sportswriters, sportscastersm sports executives and ESPN talking heads vote. Award winners are selected from the nominees by the ESPY nominating committee..
The fact that Kate Douglass was not even **nominated** for best female college athlete is criminal.
Eh, is it? I know nothing about women’s college athletes in other sports.
And they picked people from basketball, soccer, softball and lacrosse, so like idk maybe there was some GOAT volleyball player that got shafted.
Well when you’re comparing one sport/performance to another (apples to oranges) the way to set one performer/performance apart vs another is record-setting. None of the 4 nominees did anything along the lines of what Kate did in terms of record-setting/best performance ever in their sport.
But that’s what I’m saying, I have no idea what any of them did.
Which is actually not true! Defector did a post about Oklahoma’s softball team, and mentioned how much one of them mashed. Old collegiate record for home runs in a career was 95, and Alo upped that record to 122 this year.
So I’d disagree that none of those nominees were close to Douglass, I think Alo winning is pretty defensible. (And my original point is – maybe the other nominees did something similar! Or there are other athletes from sports we don’t follow that had a Douglass-like performance.)
Too broad an award to get mad when an athlete in a niche sport like… Read more »
Exactly. Alo is the GOAT college softball player. College softball is a MUCH more popular NCAA sport than swimming. It’s pretty obvious why ESPN went with her over a swimmer….
Dude swimming is not a niche sport, at least worldwide. Softball is the niche sport. Introduced into the Olympics in the 1990s, withdrawn from the Olympic program in the 2000s, I believe, bc only a handful of countries even have a team. It was brought back in the last decade bc of equality optics, not popularity. Contrasted with swimming which, at least in the Olympics, is the premier event and gets most of the viewership. I’d also argue that more girls 18 and under are involved in swimming compared with softball. It may be a more-watched sport than swimming in this country (NCAA only) but that’s again bc ESPN airs their CWS which has numerous games over weeks, whereas swimming… Read more »
Ah you’re right, the ESPYs might as well not give any awards to NFL players. Football hasn’t been in the Olympics ever.
We were discussing Olympic sports that also happen to be college sports
No, we are talking about NCAA sports as this is the NCAA ESPY. Nothing to do with it being an olympic sport at all.
NCAA Softball is way more popular and watched than NCAA swimming. It isn’t even a question which is more popular. I don’t know why you are talking about Olympic programs and international pull. The award is about NCAA athletics.
You said “None of the 4 nominees did anything along the lines of what Kate did in terms of record-setting/best performance ever in their sport.” which is just wrong. Kate deserved a nomination but it is disrespectful and incorrect to say none of the other nominees didn’t do “anything along the lines of what Kate did”
Oklahoma’s softball team just got a $9 million donation from Love’s Truck Stops, and another $1 million from a private couple, as part of a $42 million stadium renovation.
The top college softball teams average home crowds that would sell out NCAAs, including the crappy seats at the end of the 50 meter pool. That’s an average.
Alabama’s softball team, which led the country in attendance last season, brings in $1.5 million in revenue annually without having to rely on funny math about tuition counting as program revenue.
Remember that the E in ESPY stands for Entertainment. Swimming holds itself back from the “entertainment” part, and it shows up in instances like these. Can’t have your cake and eat… Read more »
Jocelyn Alo who won the ESPY in question:
“Concluded her career as the NCAA all-time leader in home runs (122), slugging percentage (.987) and total bases (761), second all-time in RBIs (323) and fifth in runs (281)”
“Finished the 2022 season batting .515, becoming the only player in NCAA Division I history to bat over .500 and hit 30-plus home runs in a season”
I get this is a swimming website but come on. “None of the 4 nominees did anything along the lines of what Kate did in terms of record-setting/best performance ever in their sport.” is just incorrect. Give some respect to the other athletes – that’s a LOT of records for a much more… Read more »
Just look at her record book section of her OU profile.
“Only player in NCAA DI history to hit 30-plus HRs in three separate seasons (2018, ’21, ’22)”
“Set the WCWS record for home runs in a World Series with five (also done by teammate Tiare Jennings) in 2022”
Impressive, yes. Is it “6 American records” in one meet impressive? Maybe. Up for opinion. IN MY OPINION, I think Kate’s performance was better and (as the point of my OP was) worthy of at least a nomination. I didn’t even mention the fact that Kate won an Olympic medal- you know, against the world’s best. Did Alo do anything similar to that last year? (Nope, she didn’t)
Also, what does popularity of the sport have to do with who deserves it? (Answer: nothing) I understand it can influence who votes for whom but, that’s not the point.
Olympic medals and American records have nothing to do with an NCAA ESPY. NCAA records do. I’m not saying the more popular sport should win the award….but ESPN is motivated by engagement so popularity matters to THEM (who also gives out the award…)
I agree that Kate deserved a nomination but my whole comment is around the notion that “None of the 4 nominees did anything along the lines of what Kate did in terms of record-setting/best performance ever in their sport.” is just wrong.
Woman? You mean birthing persons.please avoid colonial bigoted racist gendered words like that.
I mean this with as much malice as I’m allowed to post in these here comments, but – get bent.
What is WRONG with you?
There are a LOT of female college athletes. You need to get out more.
1) how does “getting out more” make me more aware of female college athletes?? Can I not learn about them at home while watching TV or reading about them online? What a moronic statement by you. I actually follow a lot of women’s sports- hoops, lax, FH, gymnastics, soccer, tennis, T&F, rowing. Not that I need to prove that to you but what a strange statement you made to assume I know nothing of women’s sports. Arguing the case for one athlete somehow negates my awareness of other athletes, in your warped mind, I guess 🤨
2) this is a site focused on swimming, so it’s not that odd for a swimming fan such as myself to root for a… Read more »
Congrats to all of them! 🏊♂️
So interested in Caelebs whereabouts- but he talked about his mental health pre and post Olympics in a recent interview. That’s what my guess is, in addition to radio silence on all social medias. His family has also gone silent on social media. Probably to avoid questions. I hope he is okay!!!!!!!
he’s talked about it before, he’s not talking about it now.
I’m guessing it’s something worse.
It took him awhile to talk about Olympic times mental health. Maybe he’s taking the time away and will explain at a later date.
psych sheets are out for US nationals!
Pre-scratch psych sheet
No Dressel, but that’s not particularly surprising at this point
lol there’s an oopsie in the men’s 1500. i was like, who the heck’s seeded ahead of finke?? but i dont think that’s a lcm 1500 time tbh
ha! Finke’s either 7.5 minutes behind top seed or ahead by 32 seconds. Wonder who will win the 1500…
Interesting. Japanese butterflier Ai Soma is apparently training at Louisville now.
Brad is a Naval Academy Graduate.
Was he there?
I don’t think so, I can’t find any pictures on the internet of him there at least.
Where is he???
He has left to search for his sneakers in Dimension X.
Searching for the 7 dragon balls