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Katie Ledecky Wins ESPY Awards For Best Women’s Athlete and Olympian

On Wednesday, Katie Ledecky was named the winner of two ESPYs (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards), the “Best Athlete—Women’s Sports” and the “Best Olympian—Women’s Sports” awards. She was presented with the Best Women’s Athlete award at the ESPY awards ceremony, which took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

The ESPYs are accolades that get presented to athletes every year to recognize individuals and teams for their achievements over the last year. The awards are presented by both the ABC and ESPN network. Winners of ESPYs are decided exclusively based on online fan voting.

You can watch Ledecky’s full acceptance speech here.

In the running for the Best Women’s athlete award, Ledecky was up against 2020 Olympic gymnastics all-around champion Suni Lee, WNBA all-star Candace Parker, and summer and winter Paralympic gold medalist Oksana Masters. For the Best Women’s Olympian award, other nominees included Lee, Masters, and 11-time Olympic medalist track star Allyson Felix.

At the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, Ledecky took gold in the 800 and 1500 free while winning silver in the 400 free at the 4×200 free relay. A year later at the 2022 World Championships, she won four golds in the 400, 800, and 1500 free plus the 4×200 free relay, and was the most decorated athlete, male or female, at the meet. Ledecky now has the most individual Olympic golds (6) and World Championship medals (22) out of any female swimmer.

Previously, Ledecky had been nominated for ESPY awards in the past, such as the 2016 and 2017 Best Women’s Athlete awards and the 2018 Best College Athlete award. However, this year marks her first time winning a ESPY.

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Cate
2 years ago

About time

Breezeway
2 years ago

Nomination lists were very weak. Just call it the American ESPYs

Cate
Reply to  Breezeway
2 years ago

Ummm, that’s what it is

Steve Nolan
2 years ago

Uhh, anyone know if Dressel was there to accept his award??

Flipperz
Reply to  Steve Nolan
2 years ago

Shhhh, you’re not allowed to talk about Dressel at all apparently.

Cate
Reply to  Flipperz
2 years ago

Probably because anything anyone would say would be gossip.

Steve Nolan
Reply to  Cate
2 years ago

have you been in these comments before, this is gossip city

Webby
2 years ago

How on Earth did she beat Emma McKeon for best Olympian , US bias for sure.

A B
Reply to  Webby
2 years ago

“ online fan voting” that’s how.

Cate
Reply to  A B
2 years ago

ESPYs are an American sports show

Yanyan Li
Reply to  Webby
2 years ago

Because Emma wasn’t nominated. The awards show is US-centric so most of the athletes nominated were American or play US-based sports.

Last edited 2 years ago by Yanyan Li
CADWALLADER GANG
Reply to  Yanyan Li
2 years ago

i can’t believe you have to break down something so simple to understand. then again, this is a swimswam comments section after all

Drew
Reply to  CADWALLADER GANG
2 years ago

If they gave awards for overall Oly minor medals, relays, and inability to win a World Championship individual race, McKeon would have been a shoo-in.

CADWALLADER GANG
Reply to  Webby
2 years ago

it’s almost like the ESPYS are an american centric awards show 😱😱😱😱

Cate
Reply to  Webby
2 years ago

Because the ESPYs are an American sports show

TheMainMane
2 years ago

Jk

Last edited 2 years ago by TheMainMane
eagleswim
2 years ago

and we are still at the point where mainstream folks are mispronouncing her name.

Flipperz
Reply to  eagleswim
2 years ago

To be fair, only the most hardcore American swimming fans would be willing to sit through the entirety of an 800 or 1500. If sports are to some degree entertainment, then she’s not exactly an entertaining performer.

Virtus
Reply to  Flipperz
2 years ago

Yeah but her mega leads garner enough attention for people to know her name

Cate
Reply to  Flipperz
2 years ago

That must be why she gets a boatload of endorsements. *eyeroll* PS, those aren’t the only events she swims

Jamesjabc
Reply to  eagleswim
2 years ago

How does one mispronounce her name? It’s phonetic lol

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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