The United States Sports Academy is pleased to announce online voting is open for its Athlete of the Month ballot for the month of July, featuring 12 candidates from five countries who made an impact in their return to sport after a hiatus due to the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Everyone is encouraged to cast a vote. Voting will continue until 5 p.m. Central time on Thursday, 13 August 2020.
Male nominees are Michail Antonio, football (soccer), England; Nick Castellanos, baseball, United States; Michael Norman, athletics, United States; Mauricio Ortega, discus, Colombia; Jon Rahm, golf, Spain; and T.J. Warren, basketball, United States.
Female nominees are Ivona Dadic, heptathlon, Austria; Rachel Daly, football (soccer), England; Sylvia Fowles, basketball, United States; Shelby Houlihan, athletics, United States; Sandi Morris, pole vault, United States; and Rosemary Wanjiru, athletics, Kenya.
Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and then voting online during the first week of every month. The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the prestigious Athlete of the Year ballot. A worldwide public vote on the annual ballot is used to guide the committee in making the final selection.
The Athlete of the Year Award is part of the United States Sports Academy’s Awards of Sport program, which each year serves as “A Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas of sport. The Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) annually recognizes these men and women through its Sport Artist of the Year, Honorary Doctorates, Distinguished Service Awards, Outstanding Athletes, and Alumni of the Year awards. This is the 36th year of the Academy’s Awards of Sport program.
