Best Male Athlete ESPY Award

The Best Male Athlete ESPY Award, known alternatively as the Outstanding Male Athlete ESPY Award, has been presented annually at the ESPY Awards since 1993 to the male voted irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best athlete in a given calendar year. Between 1993 and 2004, the award voting panel comprised variously fans; sportswriters and broadcasters, sports executives, and retired sportspersons, termed collectively experts; and ESPN personalities, but balloting thereafter has been exclusively by fans over the Internet from amongst choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee. Through the 2001 iteration of the ESPY Awards, ceremonies were conducted in February of each year to honor achievements over the previous calendar year; awards presented thereafter are conferred in June or July and reflect performance from the June previous.[2]

Best Male Athlete ESPY Award
Awarded forbest male athlete
LocationLos Angeles (2018)[1]
Presented byESPN
First awarded2000
Currently held byGiannis Antetokounmpo (Greece)
Websitewww.espn.co.uk/espys/

Three American athletes, golfer Tiger Woods, road cyclist Lance Armstrong, and basketball player LeBron James, have won the award multiple times. Woods was honored five times: in 1998 (jointly with Ken Griffey Jr.), 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2008. Armstrong was honored four times from 2003 to 2006 inclusive while James received the trophy in 2012, 2013 and 2016. Basketball is the most successful sport, its players having received a total of nine awards since its inception. The award has been won by a non-American three times – in 2011 by German basketball player Dirk Nowitzki, in 2018 by Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin and in 2019 by Greek basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 2017 winner of the Best Male Athlete ESPY Award was basketball player Russell Westbrook who received his trophy at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.[1] The award wasn't awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

List of winners
Winners of the Best Male Athlete ESPY Award
Year Image Athlete Nation represented Sport Ref
1993 Michael Jordan  United States Basketball [3]
1994 Barry Bonds  United States Baseball [4]
1995 Steve Young  United States American football [5]
1996 Cal Ripken Jr.  United States Baseball [6]
1997 Michael Johnson  United States Track and field [7]
1998 Tiger Woods  United States Golf [8]
Ken Griffey Jr.  United States Baseball [9]
1999 Mark McGwire  United States Baseball [10]
2000 Tiger Woods  United States Golf [3]
2001 Tiger Woods  United States Golf [3]
2002 Tiger Woods  United States Golf [3]
2003 Lance Armstrong  United States Road cycling [11]
2004 Lance Armstrong  United States Road cycling [11]
2005 Lance Armstrong  United States Road cycling [11]
2006 Lance Armstrong  United States Road cycling [11]
2007 LaDainian Tomlinson  United States American football [12]
2008 Tiger Woods  United States Golf [13]
2009 Michael Phelps  United States Swimming [14]
2010 Drew Brees  United States American football [15]
2011 Dirk Nowitzki  Germany Basketball [16]
2012 LeBron James  United States Basketball [17]
2013 LeBron James  United States Basketball [18]
2014 Kevin Durant  United States Basketball [19]
2015 Stephen Curry  United States Basketball [20]
2016 LeBron James  United States Basketball [21]
2017 Russell Westbrook  United States Basketball [1]
2018 Alexander Ovechkin  Russia Hockey [22]
2019 Giannis Antetokounmpo  Greece Basketball [23]
2020 Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Statistics
Winners by sport contested
Sport contested Number of awards Individual winners
Basketball 9 7
Golf 5 1
Baseball 4 4
Road cycling 4 1
American football 3 3
Track and field 1 1
Swimming 1 1
Hockey 1 1

– includes award shared by Woods and Griffey Jr. in 1998

Winners by nation represented
Nation represented Number of awards Individual winners
 United States 22 15
 Germany 1 1
 Greece 1 1
 Russia 1 1

– includes award shared by Woods and Griffey Jr. in 1998

See also

Notes
  1. Felt, Hunter (13 July 2017). "ESPY Awards 2017: Simone Biles and Russell Westbrook win Best Athletes - as it happened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  2. Because of the rescheduling of the ESPY Awards ceremony, the award presented in 2002 was given in consideration of performance betwixt February 2001 and June 2002.
  3. Smart, Barry (24 August 2005). The Sport Star: Modern Sport and the Cultural Economy of Sporting Celebrity. SAGE Publications Ltd. p. 190. ISBN 0-7619-4351-X. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  4. Bernstein, Ross (1 August 2012). Barry Bonds. Lerner Publishing Group. p. 52. ISBN 1-4677-0387-7. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  5. "Young, Blair earn top ESPY awards". Deseret News. 14 February 1995. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  6. "Ripken, Lobo cart off two ESPYs each". Deseret News. 13 February 1996. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  7. "ESPY Award Winners". Las Vegas Sun. 11 February 1997.
  8. Christopher, Paul J.; Smith, Alicia Marie (1 September 2006). Greatest Sports Heroes of All Times: North American Edition. Encouragement Press. p. 217. ISBN 1-933766-09-3. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  9. Baxi, Shashwat (12 February 2009). "And Then There Was One: Only Griffey Jr. Remains from Pre-Steroid Era!". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  10. "Awards: McGwire top ESPY winner". Kitsap Sun. 16 February 1999. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  11. Johanson, Paula (7 April 2011). Lance Armstrong: A Biography. Greenwood. p. 76. ISBN 0-313-38690-0. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  12. Harris, Beth (12 July 2007). "Chargers' Tomlinson Wins 4 ESPY Awards". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  13. Myers, Alex (5 December 2013). "Throwback Thursday: That time Will Ferrell accepted an award... as Tiger Woods". Golf Digest. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  14. "Phelps a big winner at ESPY Awards". ABC. 15 July 2009. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  15. Harris, Beth (14 July 2010). "Brees, Vonn take home top ESPYs". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  16. Tourtellotte, Bob (14 July 2011). "Mavericks, Nowitzki shine at Espy Awards". Reuters. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  17. Goss, Nicholas (12 July 2012). "ESPY Awards 2012 Winners: Why LeBron James Deserves His Multiple Awards". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  18. Grant, Ethan (18 July 2013). "ESPY 2013 Winners: Robin Roberts, LeBron James and Athletes Who Stole the Show". Bleacher Report.
  19. Zucker, Joseph (17 July 2014). "ESPY 2014 Winners: Awards Results, Recap, Top Moments and Twitter Reaction". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  20. Nathan, Alec (16 July 2015). "ESPY Awards 2015 Results: Analyzing LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Other Winners". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  21. Harris, Beth (13 July 2016). "LeBron leads call at ESPY awards to end gun violence". National Basketball Association. Archived from the original on 15 July 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  22. "2018 ESPY Awards: Winners list".
  23. Antetokounmpo, Giannis (10 July 2019). "ESPY Award winners 2019". Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.

References
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