Jesse Owens Award

The Jesse Owens Award is an annual track and field award that is the highest accolade given out by USA Track & Field (USATF).^[1] As the country's highest award for the sport, it bears Jesse Owens's name in recognition of his significant career, which included four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.^[2] First awarded in 1981 to hurdler Edwin Moses, it was created to recognize the season's top American performer in track and field competitions. In 1996, the award was divided into two categories, with both a male and female winner. The 1996 winners, Michael Johnson and Gail Devers, each won two gold medals at that year's Olympics in Atlanta.^[3] Up until 2008, the award was voted on by members of the United States athletics media only, but in 2009 fans were able to vote via the USATF website, with their opinions contributing 10% of the overall result.^[4]

The winners of the award are typically announced in late November or early December after the end of the outdoor track and field season. A number of athletes have received the award on more than one occasion: Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the first to do so with back-to-back wins in 1986 and 1987, while Carl Lewis won his second award in 1991. Michael Johnson was the first to receive the award three times (winning consecutively from 1994–1996) and Marion Jones became the first woman to collect three awards after wins in 1997, 1998 and 2002. In 2012, Allyson Felix won the award for the fourth time, thus distinguishing herself as the athlete with the most wins. Winners receive a replica of the award while the original remains on permanent display at the USATF Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.^[5] As of 2013, the female version of the award was renamed the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athlete of the Year Award.^[6]

List of recipients

Year	Male winner	Female winner	Ref.
1981	Edwin Moses	—	^[8]
1982	Carl Lewis	—	^[9]
1983	—	Mary Decker	^[10]
1984	—	Joan Benoit	^[11]
1985	Willie Banks	—	^[12]
1986	—	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	^[13]
1987	—	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	^[13]
1988	—	Florence Griffith Joyner	^[14]
1989	Roger Kingdom	—	^[15]
1990	—	Lynn Jennings	^[16]
1991	Carl Lewis	—	^[9]
1992	Kevin Young	—	^[17]
1993	—	Gail Devers	^[18]
1994	Michael Johnson	—	^[19]
1995	Michael Johnson	—	^[19]
1996	Michael Johnson	Gail Devers	^[19]
1997	Allen Johnson	Marion Jones	^[20]
1998	John Godina	Marion Jones	^[21]
1999	Maurice Greene	Inger Miller	^[22]
2000	Angelo Taylor	Stacy Dragila	^[23]
2001	John Godina	Stacy Dragila	^[24]
2002	Tim Montgomery	Marion Jones	^[25]
2003	Tom Pappas	Deena Kastor	^[26]
2004	Justin Gatlin	Joanna Hayes	^[27]
2005	Justin Gatlin	Allyson Felix	^[28]
2006	Jeremy Wariner	Sanya Richards	^[29]
2007	Tyson Gay	Allyson Felix	^[30]
2008	Bryan Clay	Stephanie Brown Trafton	^[31]
2009	Tyson Gay	Sanya Richards	^[4]
2010	David Oliver	Allyson Felix	^[5]
2011	Jesse Williams	Carmelita Jeter	^[32]
2012	Ashton Eaton	Allyson Felix	^[33]
Year	Jesse Owens Award	Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award	Ref.
2013	LaShawn Merritt	Brianna Rollins	^[34]
2014	Mebrahtom Keflezighi	Jennifer Simpson	^[35]
2015	Ashton Eaton	Allyson Felix	^[36]
2016	Matthew Centrowitz	Michelle Carter	^[37]
2017	Sam Kendricks	Emma Coburn	^[38]
2018	Noah Lyles	Shelby Houlihan	^[39]
2019	Donavan Brazier	Dalilah Muhammad	^[40]
2021	Ryan Crouser	Sydney McLaughlin	^[41]
2022	Noah Lyles	Sydney McLaughlin	^[42]
2023	Noah Lyles	Sha'Carri Richardson	^[43]

References

General

Woolum, Janet (1998). Outstanding Women Athletes. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-1-57356-120-4. Retrieved November 3, 2010.

Specific

External links

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