"The women’s World Figure Skating Championship gold medalist won her second world title. She overcame 2010 Olympic champion Yu-Na Kim, and tsunami devastation to her homeland of Japan."
I get that both are impressive feats, but I find it kind of funny to equate Yu-Na to a tsunami. ("equate" might be the wrong word but you know what I mean).
But in all honesty I can't do so a third time because Yani Tseng (never heard of her before, I don't follow golf) and Kohei Uchimura are calling out to me (as well as English Gardner!).
I know. But Federer's loss to him at US open was too much for me to forget. I gave all my votes on male athletes to Patrick Chan. But I had to give some of female votes to Li Na. Don't really care any female athletes other than Ando and Li Na.
Tennis is my favorite sport now but I'm just not a Djokovic fan although he had such a great year. Love Kim Clijsters but I think the girl that won Wimbledon and the year ending championship should be on the list. I think I'm going to vote for the skaters this year.
Neither deserve the award. I am not going to vote for them just because I like figure skating and they happened to be the best in a weakish year. Miki Ando won Worlds with a so so performance that wouldnt have won Worlds since the 80s. She would be a joke choice. Chan is too inconsistent still, even though he wins every event sometimes with lots of mistakes.
Aren't these athletes of the year awards? Patrick had a stellar last season and brought the quad back to skating. As for Miki - her FS was not her best, but she had an exquisite SP, so it's not fair to say her overall performance was "so so." To say nothing of carrying her country on her slight shoulders after the tsunami. I have nothing but respect and affection for this two-time World Champion!
^ Right. I also wanted to make the point that this AFAIK is an athlete of the year award, not a lifetime achievement award. This was in response to the poster who said Chan had not yet built up a sufficient body of work to earn his/her vote.
Hey, this is America where even dead people can vote! Vote early and vote often....the vote has nothing to do with who is the best athlete. You cant compare an apple to an orange anyway. The vote has everything to do with what kind of support each sport receives....how rabid the fans are.....just like reality TV where the audience votes for the best singer or dancer....or the Amercian judicial system where learned law professionals discuss the case and the person's fate is decided by 6 butchers, 5 bakers, and a dingbat.