In a recent column, I opined that Iga Swiatek should be the 2022 AP Female Athlete of the Year, but would not receive the honor because she is not an American. Voters for the annual male and female top athlete show a bias against non Americans, and Swiatek is Polish.
Despite dominating tennis with eight tournament victories, including the French Open and the U.S. Open, Swiatek was not first in voting by 40 sports writers and editors. She was not second, not third and not fourth. Swiatek finished fifth, behind four Americans — swimmer Katie Ledecky, track star Sydney McLaughlin and basketball players Aja Wilson and Aliyah Boston, all Americans.
Only four of the 40 voters had Swiatek first on their ballots and only 14 had her in the top three.
Ledecky is deserving of her second Athlete of the Year award with four individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. But the feeling here is that Swiatek is slightly more deserving, and placing only fifth is ridiculous.
The AP got it right with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge as Male Athlete of the Year after a season when he hit an American League record 62 homers and was named league MVP. Hitting and pitching star Shohei Ohtani, of the California Angels, the 2021 Male Athlete of the Year, was second and 2015 winner Stephen Curry third after leading the Golden State Warriors to the NBA crown. That’s the way the voting should have gone,
In the previous column I commented on Serena Williams being named 2018 Female Athlete of the Year in a year that she did not win a single tournament. That should not be considered a knock on Williams, the GOAT of women's tennis. She deserved the award the other four times she won it. Just not in 2018.
Also in 2018, the Male Athlete of the Year was Lebron James in year that he (A) was not his league MVP, (B) did not lead his league in any statistical category, and (C) did not lead his team to a championship. He had a solid year, but didn't do anything special, which should be the requirement for Athlete of the Year.
The 2018 Male Athlete of the Year should have been Mookie Betts, who checked all the boxes. He was American League MVP, led the league in runs scored, batting average and slugging average, and led the Red Sox to the World Series championship.
