Now that the Olympics are over, it’s time to start that discussion…
If you ask me, based on what SI has done in the past, the choice seems obvious, and the only choice is whether it’s one person or two:
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce - but probably only if they can get at least one photo of Kelce with Taylor Swift, so it can get the Swifties to buy the issue
Just Mahomes
Stephen Curry and Simone Biles - I had LeBron & Bronny at #3 before those last two games in the Olympics
Simone Biles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and maybe a few other female USA Olympic athletes - why, yes, I do keep saying that every year, don’t I?
On the last day of the Olympics I can’t think of anyone other than an Olympian. Katie, Simone and Sydney feels right in a year when the Olympics reached gender parity for the first time.
Ha! Thanks for the acknowledgement. Courtney is still the GOAT on the women’s side, but she hasn’t matched the year she had last year – she won the Hardrock 100 for the third straight year, but skipped Western States and UTMB. She’s had a solid season, winning Transgrancanaria and the Mount Fuji 100 in the spring, before defending her Hardrock title, but 2023 was something unique in ultrarunning. Only one other runner has won the three iconic ultras Western States, Hardrock, and UTMB – the legendary Kilian Jornet – but even he hasn’t won all three in the same year.
My longshot for SPOY would be the US Olympic track and field team. They continued their dominance of sprinting and short-distance running (albeit losing the 4x400 mixed relay for the first time in the event’s history), but added gold and bronze in the men’s 1500m, bronze in men’s 5000m, bronze in men’s 10000m, an 8th place finish in the men’s marathon and a 12th in the women’s race. Cole Hocker running down both Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr in the 1500 was a huge upset. Historically, the U.S. has been an also-ran (ha!) in distance running, but four medals in this Games, added to bronze medals in women’s marathon and men’s 5000m three years ago in Tokyo, shows a resurgence of American distance running. We’re still not at the level of the Ethiopians and Kenyans, but we’re not completely overmatched, either.
Katie Ledecky, the most decorated female swimmer of all time. Did Michael Phelps get the nod after his Olympic swimming victories? If he did, she should.
He won in 2008, having earned eight gold medals at the Tokyo Game that year. Ledecky has nine Olympic gold medals, but spread out over three different Olympics. Generally speaking, SI doesn’t seem to use the award to recognize lifetime achievement, but who knows?
After giving it to Deion Sanders last year, I suspect someone equally deserving will get the nod this year a- it’ll either be Warren Buffett, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, or Bob Dylan.
Sanders became head coach of the University of Colorado’s football team last year (leaving a smaller school, Jackson State, where he’d been a successful coach for three seasons). Being Deion, he generated an absolute ton of media coverage, and used the “transfer portal” to completely rebuild the team’s roster, including his two sons (one of whom became Colorado’s starting QB).
Early in the season, they played well: they started 3-0, beat rival Colorado State in overtime, and Sanders and the team were featured on a segment of 60 Minutes. But, they stumbled badly after that, finishing 4-8 (and only 1-8 in the Pac-12).
He was a terrible choice for the award, given his team’s actual performance. It’s pretty clear that SI gave him the award for the media impact.
Yes, he did, but he won eight at the same Olympics. Note that Mark Spitz won 7 in 1972 (9 overall, if you include 1968), and he did not.
Er, USA finished third in the mixed 4x400 in 2021, and even that was after it had to be reinstated after a disqualification caused by the second runner lining up outside of her passing zone (because a Japanese official told her where to go - ironically, it almost happened again, but this time an official told the runner to back up into the zone). You might be confusing it with the 4x100 mixed medley swimming relay, which USA did lose for the first time (to China).
You are also asking to open the can of worms concerning which of the two tied men’s high jumpers asked for the jump-off rather than agreeing to share the gold medals, especially as that would have given the USA 41.
Seems like it should be Simone Biles – great performance, and a great comeback story from four years ago. She does stuff on the vault that the men don’t even do. She made remarkable strides in women’s gymnastics, with two moves named after her. And, she’s probably done now, so it’s a good time to do this – Mahomes will still be around next year.
Exactly. As was discussed at length in threads on previous years’ awards, the award is at least as much about generating sales/clicks/views/media coverage for SI as it is about recognizing a sportsperson. A recipient in a niche sport with a small following and little name recognition among the general public defeats the first purpose above.
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