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| Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin holding their awards. |
On Sunday, USA Swimming hosted the 8th annual Golden Goggle Awards at the JW Marriot in Los Angeles. The master of ceremonies was actor and comedian Kevin Nealon, but the stars of the night were Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte and the U.S. 2011 World Championships Team.
Missy Franklin, 16-year-old phenom, took home three awards Sunday night. Her shining moment came when a speechless Franklin was given the Female Athlete of the Year award, “I have no idea why I’m standing up here right now,” she said, “I definitely don’t feel like I deserve this.”
She also took home the award for Female Race of the Year and shared the award for Relay of the Year with her 4x100 Medley Relay teammates Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni and Dana Vollmer. Franklin has been compared to the “female Michael Phelps of swimming” because of her success at such a young age.
Phelps was noticeably absent Sunday night as his teammate, and rival, Ryan Lochte took home the Male Athlete of the Year award. Lochte expressed his love and thanks to his coach, Gregg Troy, who took home the Coach of the Year award. Lochte also shared a tender moment with his mother “Mom, you’re so beautiful,” he said, “I love you.”
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| Ryan Lochte and his mother on the red carpet. |
Lochte took home the award for Male Race of the Year for his performance in the 200 Individual Medley, in which he broke a world record breaking an 18 month world record drought. Lochte thanked Phelps, who swam against him at the world championships in this event, for pushing him to many limits.
Peter Vanderkaay and Alex Meyer rounded out the winners. Vanderkaay took home the Perseverance award while Meyer took the Breakout Performer of the Year. Meyer is the first American swimmer to earn a spot on the 2012 Open Water swimming Olympic team.
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