Who should win?
Go to www.usaswimming.org/GoldenGogglesAwards/
I had to vote for my neighborhood kids, Chloe Sutton and Kate Zeigler. But I think Whitney Myers (200IM) and Brendan Hansen (***) had the best performances of the year.
Former Member
Beza Dude I don't know whether we should bring up his name.
I may have to go back and look at that thread just for old times sake. I remember that thread like it was....well, a year ago.
It is fine to go back and have a look but we should not get in a great debate about Beza because he is not here to protect himself.
I find it odd that Ryan Lochte, who arguably might be the second best all around swimmer in the world, was no where to be found in the awards. He is at least honorable mention in Male Swimmer of the Year.
i'll second that!! he deserves an award for his hard work and all around talent. he's a great swimmer and a good guy. and he's SO FAST.
GO GATORS!! :D
It is fine to go back and have a look but we should not get in a great debate about Beza because he is not here to protect himself.
Don't worry about that George, I am not interested in another suspension!
I find it odd that Ryan Lochte, who arguably might be the second best all around swimmer in the world, was no where to be found in the awards. He is at least honorable mention in Male Swimmer of the Year.
I think the reason Ryan Lochte is not on the ballot is because he did not meet the nomination committee critera of performances or they only took the top male performances and top male performers of the year and ranked the top 4 for there ballot for people to vote for.
This is my no measure to believe that Ryan Lochte did not have an outstanding year. With 3 World Records and 7 American Records that he set during the year at the NCAA Championships and Short Course World Championships will attest to that. However he did not set any Long Course Records and did not win any events at the Pan Pacific Championships and I think that is why he is not on the ballot because the three other people did win 2 or more events and two of those people set 2 World Records in the process and the other swimmer set one World Record.
Not taking away Ryan's efforts, but I believe and always have believed that USA Swimming places more emphasis on Long Course International competitions than Short Course competitions. The meet that Ryan did in China was just not as important in the nominating process for the awards as the Pan Pacific Championships. That is the international meet of the year as far as USA Swimming is concerned. Just like next year the 2007 World Championships in Australia will be the meet of the year. Now if Ryan wins multiple events against two of the 3 guys on the ballot this year at that meet, he will definately be on the ballot for next year.
I don't think they take into considertion the NCAA Championships in there critera and if they do its minor and secondary. If you go to the ballot page on the nominees, the event they talk about with all of the swimmers nominated is the Pan Pac meet and how well the swimmer did at that meet with wins and records. A secondary meet that has minor consideration is the Nationals. Because he did not win an individual event at either of these meets, its tough to put him on the ballot over the others.
However, he was awarded for his efforts as being named the 2006 NCAA Swimmer of the Year in which he rightly deserves.
As you may know, the awards are in:
Male Athlete of the Year: Brendan Hansen
Female Athlete of the Year: Katie Hoff
Male Performance: Michael Phelps' 200 IM at PanPacs
Female Performance: Whitney Myers' 200 IM at PanPacs
Relay Performance: Men's 400 Free Relay at PanPacs
Coach of the year: Bowman
Perseverance Award: Eric Vendt
Breakout Performance: Cullen Jones
You can read more on swiminfo.com
