The Sportswoman of the Year Award is given by the Women's Sports Foundation

Women's Sports Foundation

The Women's Sports Foundation "is an educational nonprofit organization founded in 1974 by tennis legend Billie Jean King." Its stated mission statement is "To advance the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity."...

 every year. This foundation recognizes both an individual and a team Sportswoman on their performance over a 12-month period. This award is given based on their new records and their world championships won.

In the year 2010, the winners of the Sportswoman of the Year Award were Yuna Kim (Individual Sport) and Katie O'Donnell

Katie O'Donnell

Katie O'Donnell is an American field hockey player who began playing for the University of Maryland in the 2007 season. She attended Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania. She is the youngest member of the United States women's national team and has become known for her excellent stick...

 (Team Sport).

The following table reflects past winners of the Sportswoman of the Year Award in individual and team sports.

Individual Sport Winner

Individual Sport Winner

Year	Winner	Nationality	Sport
1993	Julie Krone Julie Krone Julie Krone , is a retired American jockey. In 1993, she became the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race when she captured the Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair...		Jockey Jockey A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
1994	Bonnie Blair Bonnie Blair Bonnie Kathleen Blair is a retired American speedskater. She is one of the top skaters of her time, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, and in her Olympic career won five gold medals and one bronze medal.-Career:Blair...		Speed skating Speed skating Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
1995	Bonnie Blair Bonnie Blair Bonnie Kathleen Blair is a retired American speedskater. She is one of the top skaters of her time, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, and in her Olympic career won five gold medals and one bronze medal.-Career:Blair...		Speed skating Speed skating Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
1996	Amy Van Dyken Amy Van Dyken Amy Van Dyken is an American swimmer who has six career Olympic gold medals. Four of these gold medals came in the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics...		Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
1997	Gail Devers Gail Devers Yolanda Gail Devers is a retired three-time Olympic champion in track and field for the US Olympic Team. Devers was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up near National City, California and graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1984...		Track and field Track and field Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
1998	Michelle Kwan Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan is an American figure skater. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, a five-time World champion and a nine-time U.S...		Figure skating Figure skating Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
1999	Juli Inkster Juli Inkster Juli Inkster is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. With a professional career spanning 27 years to date, Inkster's 31 wins rank her second in wins among all active players on the LPGA Tour; she has over $11 million in career earnings...		Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
2000	Jenny Thompson Jenny Thompson Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competitive swimmer, and one of the most decorated Olympians in history, winning twelve medals, including eight gold medals , in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.Thompson, a Massachusetts native who calls Dover, New Hampshire her...		Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
2001	Stacy Dragila Stacy Dragila Stacy Renée Mikaelsen is an American former pole vaulter.She won the first gold medal in women's pole vaulting at the 2000 Summer Olympics coached by Dave Nielsen...		Pole vault Pole vault Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
2002	Sarah Hughes Sarah Hughes Sarah Elizabeth Hughes is an American figure skater. She is the 2002 Olympic gold medalist and 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies singles.-Personal life:...		Figure skating Figure skating Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
2003	Natalie Coughlin Natalie Coughlin Natalie Anne Coughlin is an American swimmer and eleven-time Olympic medallist.At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Coughlin became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics and the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive...		Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
2004	Annika Sörenstam Annika Sörenstam Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...		Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
2005	Erin Popovich Erin Popovich Erin Popovich is a three-time United States Paralympic swimmer. She has won 14 career Paralympic gold medals, and 19 total.- Personal life :...		Paralympic swimming Paralympic swimming Paralympic swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Paralympic swimming is contested not only at the Summer Paralympic Games, but at disabled sports competitions throughout the world...
2006	Melanie Troxel		Funny car Funny Car Funny Car is a drag racing car class. In the United States, other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Funny cars have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber automotive bodies over the chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers'...  race
2007	Lorena Ochoa Lorena Ochoa Lorena Ochoa Reyes is a Mexican professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour from 2003 to 2010, and was the top-ranked female golfer in the world for over three years, from April 2007 to her retirement in May 2010...		Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
2008	Nastia Liukin Nastia Liukin Anastasia Valeryevna "Nastia" Liukin is a Russian-American artistic gymnast. She was the 2008 Olympic individual all-around Champion, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars...		Artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...
2009	Courtney Kupets Courtney Kupets Courtney Anne Kupets is an American gymnast. She is best known for her 2003 and 2004 all-around national championships ; her membership on the 2002 and 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and 2004 Olympic teams; and her individual bronze medal on the uneven bars at the 2004...		Gymnastic
2010	Kim Yu-Na		Figure skating Figure skating Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

Team Sport Winner

Team Sport Winner

Year	Winner	Sport
1993	Sheryl Swoopes Sheryl Swoopes Sheryl Denise Swoopes is an American professional basketball player who, subsequent to being waived into free agency, signed to re-join the WNBA to play with the Tulsa Shock in 2011. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA when it was created. She has won three Olympic Gold Medals and...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
1994	Lisa Fernandez Lisa Fernandez For the politician, see Liza Fernandez RodriguezLisa Fernandez is a right-handed softball pitcher of Cuban-Puerto Rican descent. She established an Olympic record in softball with 25 strikeouts in a game as a member of the United States Women's team.-Early years:Lisa's father immigrated from Cuba,...	Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
1995	Rebecca Lobo Rebecca Lobo Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin is an American television basketball analyst and a former player in the professional Women's National Basketball Association from 1997 to 2003...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
1996	Teresa Edwards Teresa Edwards -External links:******...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
1997	Mia Hamm Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm is a retired American soccer player. Hamm played many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team and was a founding member of the Washington Freedom. Hamm has scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female,...	Soccer
1998	Cynthia Cooper Cynthia Cooper Cynthia Lynne Cooper is a former American basketball player who has won championships in college, the Olympics, and in the Women's National Basketball Association . She is considered by many as one of the greatest women's basketball players ever. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
1999	Mia Hamm Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm is a retired American soccer player. Hamm played many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team and was a founding member of the Washington Freedom. Hamm has scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female,...	Soccer
2000	Serena Williams Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...  & Venus Williams Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...	Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
2001	Lisa Leslie Lisa Leslie Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood is a former American professional women's basketball player in the WNBA. She is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
2002	Sue Bird Sue Bird Suzanne Brigit "Sue" Bird is an American professional women's basketball player for the Seattle Storm and WBC Spartak Moscow Region....	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
2003	Lisa Leslie Lisa Leslie Lisa Deshaun Leslie-Lockwood is a former American professional women's basketball player in the WNBA. She is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
2004	Misty May-Treanor Misty May-Treanor Misty Erie May-Treanor is an American professional volleyball player. She has won more tournaments than any other female player with 107 career wins....  & Kerri Walsh Kerri Walsh Kerri Lee Walsh-Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player.Walsh-Jennings and teammate Misty May-Treanor were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics...	Volleyball Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
2005	Cat Osterman Cat Osterman Catherine Leigh "Cat" Osterman , is an American athlete and was one of the pitchers on the USA Women's Softball Team which won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the silver medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics....	Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
2006	Misty May-Treanor Misty May-Treanor Misty Erie May-Treanor is an American professional volleyball player. She has won more tournaments than any other female player with 107 career wins....  & Kerri Walsh Kerri Walsh Kerri Lee Walsh-Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player.Walsh-Jennings and teammate Misty May-Treanor were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics...	Volleyball Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
2007	Monica Abbott Monica Abbott Monica Cecilia Abbott is an American athlete who pitched for the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team from 2004-2007. In 2008, Abbott participated in the Beijing Olympics with Team USA...	Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
2008	Jessica Mendoza Jessica Mendoza Jessica Mendoza , is an American softball player of Mexican descent, who played for the United States women's national softball team from 2004-2010 and a four-time first team All-American at Stanford University from 1999-2002. Mendoza wears number two and plays outfield...	Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
2009	Jessie Vetter	Hockey Hockey Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
2010	Katie O'Donnell Katie O'Donnell Katie O'Donnell is an American field hockey player who began playing for the University of Maryland in the 2007 season. She attended Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania. She is the youngest member of the United States women's national team and has become known for her excellent stick...	Field hockey Field hockey Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

Amateur Winner

Amateur Winner (1980–1992)

Year	Winner
1980	Mary Decker Mary Decker Mary Slaney is an American former track athlete. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and set 17 official and unofficial world records and 36 US national records.-Biography:Mary Decker was born in Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New...
1981	Tracy Caulkins Tracy Caulkins Tracy Anne Caulkins Stockwell, OAM, is a former American college and international swimmer, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and a former world record-holder....
1982	Mary Decker Mary Decker Mary Slaney is an American former track athlete. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and set 17 official and unofficial world records and 36 US national records.-Biography:Mary Decker was born in Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New...
1983	Mary Decker Mary Decker Mary Slaney is an American former track athlete. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and set 17 official and unofficial world records and 36 US national records.-Biography:Mary Decker was born in Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New...
1984	Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title, after 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.-Personal life:Retton was born in Fairmont, West...
1984	Joan Benoit Joan Benoit Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner, who won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the year that the women's marathon was introduced. As a result she was the first ever women's Olympic marathon champion. Benoit Samuelson still holds the fastest times for an American...
1985	Michele Mitchell Michele Mitchell Michele Mitchell is an American journalist and author who covers politics and social issues for PBS, CNN Headline News and, currently, Film@11....
1986	Debi Thomas Debi Thomas Debra Janine "Debi" Thomas M.D. is an American figure skater and physician. She is the 1986 World champion and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist, having taken part in the Battle of the Carmens at those games.-Personal life:...
1987	Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...
1988	Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...
1989	Janet Evans Janet Evans Janet Beth Evans is a American competitive swimmer who specializes in distance freestyle. She recently announced her comeback to the sport with intentions to swim in the 2012 Olympic Trials.-Biography:...
1990	Lori Norwood
1991	Jean Driscoll Jean Driscoll Jean Driscoll is an American wheelchair racer. She won the women's wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon eight times, more than any other female athlete in any division. Her wins in Boston included seven consecutive first place finishes from 1990 to 1996...
1992	Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...

Professional Winner

Professional Winner (1980–1992)

Year	Winner
1980	Tracy Austin Tracy Austin Tracy Ann Austin Holt is a former World No. 1 female professional tennis player from the United States who won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut her career short.-To 1980:Austin defeated...
1981	Chris Evert Chris Evert Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
1982	Martina Navratilova
1983	Martina Navratilova
1984	Martina Navratilova
1985	Libby Riddles Libby Riddles Libby Riddles is an American dog musher, noteworthy as the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.Riddles was born in Madison, Wisconsin to Willard and Marry Riddles, and moved to Alaska just before her 17th birthday. Her first race was the Clines Mini Mart Sprint race in 1978, when...
1986	Lynette Woodard
1987	Susan Butcher
1988	Susan Butcher
1989	Steffi Graf Steffi Graf Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
1990	Paula Newby-Fraser Paula Newby-Fraser Paula Newby-Fraser is an Ironman triathlete and duathlete. She was born in Southern Rhodesia and raised in South Africa, where she was a nationally-ranked swimmer as a child....
1991	Meg Mallon
1992	Pat Bradley