Simone Biles voted AP female athlete of the year: Who else got votes?
It’s been a long way back for the greatest gymnast in history, but it’s clearly been worth it as she’s now back on top and with yet another award to prove it.
Despite competition from a host of top-tier female athletes, the multi-gold medal-winning star came out on top, and rightly so after battling her way back to the top, following a lengthy hiatus from the sport that made her a household name.
Simone Biles was voted AP Female Athlete of the Year
It’s hard not to admire the way in which Simone Biles has taken herself back to the top of the sporting world. Indeed, it was only in July of this year that the 26-year-old brought to an end a two-year absence from competition after stepping away to focus on her mental health. Prior to that moment in Chicago, the last time Biles had competed was at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she earned a bronze medal on the balance beam. Following that moment the 8-time gold medalist took the decision to pull out of several finals due to what is referred to as ‘the twisties’ i.e. mid-air vertigo.
American gymnast Simone Biles is the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 2023. This is the third time Biles has won the award.
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) December 22, 2023
The 26-year-old dazzled in her return to competition following a two-year break after the 2020 Olympics. https://t.co/eyfWxp35Xf pic.twitter.com/D4O9pBZPNN
At that point, the debate about mental health and its effect on the performance of professional athletes took center stage. Nonetheless, that’s now in the past, and here in the present Biles is once again - she won in 2016 and 2019 - the AP Female Athlete of the Year. Of course, it’s been a long road back and since that summer night in Chicago, she’s been learning more about how to focus on the positive. “Whenever I was 19, it was the end of the world if I had bad days,” she said. “Now I’m like, ‘It’s OK, it’s just gymnastics and I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll get it started again.’” It goes without saying that this is a monumental achievement for the young woman who has won a record eight U.S. national championships and six world all-around gold medals. Biles is just the sixth woman to win the AP honor three times. This of course leads us to the field that she bested to claim the honor.
Who were the other women on the AP list?
As mentioned before, Biles was up against a stacked field when it came to voting for the AP Female Athlete of the Year. Just behind her were Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark and Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati of the World Cup champion Spanish soccer team. Votes were cast by a panel of sports media professionals, with Biles garnering four more votes than her closest competitor. You can see the full list below:
Top vote-getters for The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year
| Name of Athlete | Sport | No. of Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Simone Biles | Gymnastics | 19 |
| Caitlin Clark | Basketball | 15 |
| Aitana Bonmati | Soccer | 10 |
| Mikaela Shriffin | Skiing | 9 |
| A’Ja Wilson | Basketball | 9 |
| Coco Gauff | Tennis | 8 |
| Angel Reese | Basketball | 7 |
| Breanna Stewart | Basketball | 5 |