Abby Wambach Named AP Female Athlete of the Year
For the first time ever the Associated Press has named a soccer player as their Athlete of the Year.
U.S. Women’s National Team player Abby Wambach was announced today as the winner of this year’s award voted on by a panel of writers. The 31-year-old received 65 of the 214 votes cast, while teammate Hope Solo (38) was a distant second, and UConn basketball star Maya Moore (35) was third.
Wambach, who is third all-time on the U.S. career goal-scoring list with 125 goals, trailing only Mia Hamm (158) and Kristine Lilly (130), was named AP Female Athlete of the Year for her outstanding performance in last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. Wambach scored 4 goals during the tournament which included a goal in each of the USA’s knockout games. One of those goals being the famous dramatic tying goal against Brazil in the quarterfinal.
“It just seemed surreal,” Wambach told AP. “Even in the moment, I was feeling like it was a dream because we were so against the ropes, and everything was pointing to us going down that day. But there was something inside of us that wasn’t going to allow that to happen. We weren’t quite ready to give up.”
This is the first time a man or women soccer player has won the prestigious award.
Comments are closed.
I had so much fun watching the women’s World Cup this past year. My favorite “sports moment of the year” was watching US/Brazil with my wife and 2/3 of my daughters. When Wambach scored that goal off of a header we all went crazy. Fun times!!!
PS: After that goal I required my girls soccer team to yell “WAMBACH” every time they headed the ball!
Great for Abby.
Why the hell Hope Solo being second I attribute more to the fact that she is considered very attractive, is very outspoken and appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” and did other popstar/celebrity activities.
In other words, Hope had a great platform, because quite frankly, from my perspective, her play didn’t shine as much as I would have expected for someone who was previously so eager to say what a big differencemaker she could be.
I’m disappointed with the AP selection of Hope in second place, but hey–pop culture and sports culture are intertwined (for better or worse).
Maya Moore is a baller.
I was rather surprised about the Hope Solo 2nd place finish myself. One would think that members of the AP would be above such things, but it’s hard to believe that all of her votes were based strictly on her athletic prowess. Makes you wonder how many votes Alex Morgan got strictly because she’s cute.
But back to the winner, a more deserving one couldn’t have been picked. Aside from her obvious talent, Abby is a great leader on the pitch, and a true team player. Her skill and the way she carried herself in Germany last summer has earned her enormous popularity in Europe as well, and she deserves every bit of it. You go girl!
I’m a “soccer homer” like everyone on here and very happy that a soccer player won the award, but in all honesty, frankly surprised that the golfer, Yani Tseng, did not win it (she came in 4th). 12 wins and two major tournament victories.