Leon Marchand Finishes Second In 2024 AP Male Athlete Of The Year Voting Behind Shohei Ohtani
12/24/2024 12:50 PM
On Monday, the 2024 Associated Press Male Athlete Of The Year award was given to Japanese Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani, who received 48 out of 74 first place votes in a landslide victory. However, French swimmer Leon Marchand came in second place with ten votes.
In 2024, Marchand won four gold medals and a bronze at the Paris Olympic games, being the most decorated athlete from the competition. Two of his gold medals came from winning the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke in the same session, making him the first swimmer since 1976 to win two individual gold medals in one day at the Olympics. After showing out in his home country, Marchand’s popularity grew immensely, with his Instagram follower count climbing from around 200,000 to 1.5 million during Paris Games.
Marchand beat out several names in voting including 2024 Men’s Ballon D’Or winner Rodri from Spain, as well as 2024 Olympic gold medalist and Masters champion golfer Scottie Scheffler from the United States.
Meanwhile, Ohtani had a historic 2024 season to take home the grand prize. In his first year as a Dodger, he won the unanimous NL MVP award, became the first player to record 50 home runs and 50 steals in a season and helped his team win the 2024 World Series. He now has three AP Male Athlete of the Year awards, tying Michael Jordan for the second-most in history.
2024 AP Male Athlete Of The Year Voting Breakdown:
- Shohei Ohtani, Baseball — 48
- Leon Marchand, Swimming — 10
- Scottie Sheffler, Golf — 9
- Rodri, Soccer — 2
- Vincinius Junior — 2
- Nikola Jokic/Aaron Judge/Connor McDavid — 1
Even in an Olympic year, no swimmers were in the top three of first place voters for the AP Female Athlete of the Year award. Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark won that award with 35 votes, American gymnast Simone Biles took second with 25 votes and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was third with four votes.
The last time a swimmer won an AP Athlete of the Year award was 2022, whenKatie Ledecky took home the prize. She also won in 2017. Other swimmers won win include Michael Phelps, Amy Van Dyken, Mark Spitz, Debbie Meyer, Don Schollander, Dawn Fraser, Ann Curtis, Gloria Callen, Katherine Rawls and Helene Madison. All of those swimmers are American with the except of Fraser, who is Australian.
AP tends to award athletes who are either American or play in U.S.-based sports leagues, so Marchand being French and taking second place is significant. Only nine of the 93 male winners have been international athletes, and only four don’t play in American pro sports leagues. International athlete winners are slightly more popular on the women’s side, with 17 non-Americans taking home the honor.
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