Hughes Named 2002 USOC Sportwoman of the Year

2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes Photo by Dave Black

March 24, 2003

Figure skater Sarah Hughes, cyclist Lance Armstrong and the Women's Bobsled Team have been voted the 2002 United States Olympic Committee SportsWoman, SportsMan and Team of the Year, respectively.

The USOC SportsMan and SportsWoman of the Year awards have been presented annually since 1974 to the top overall male and female athlete from within the USOC member organizations. The team award was added in 1996. Voters for the awards include national media, the USOC Board of Directors and the USOC Athletes' Advisory Council. Winners are selected from the individual female and male Athlete of the Year and Team of the Year nominations of the national governing bodies for the Olympic, Pan American, Affiliated and Disabled Sports Organizations within the U.S. Olympic movement.

The Olympic gold medalist in ladies figure skating at Salt Lake City, Hughes (Great Neck, N.Y.) placed third at the 2002 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships and finished third in the ISU Grand Prix Final.

Armstrong (Austin, Texas) won his fourth consecutive Tour de France in 2002 and is the first American to accomplish this feat. He also was first in the Grand Prix du Midi-Libre, France; first in the Dauphine Libere, France; second in the Criterium International, France; and fourth in the Amstel Gold Race, Holland.

The team of Jill Bakken (Park City, Utah) and Vonetta Flowers (Helena, Ala.) won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sport of women's bobsled at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Following Hughes in the SportsWoman of the Year balloting were tennis player Serena Williams (Palm Springs Gardens, Fla.), speedskater Chris Witty (West Allis, Wis.) and swimmer Natalie Coughlin (Concord, Calif.), who tied in third place, and snowboarder Kelly Clark (Mount Snow, Vt.).

Previous figure skating winners of the USOC SportsMan and SportsWoman of the year include: Linda Fratianne, 1977, Scott Hamilton, 1981, and Tara Lipinski, 1997.