PHOENIX, Arizona, November 27. OVER the past month, Swimming World has polled its readers via SwimmingWorldMagazine.com to see who they would select as the World Male and Female Swimmers of the Year. Our readers' voices have been heard as we present our Swimmers Choice awards.
With 31.24 percent of the vote, the United States' Kate Ziegler walked away with the World Female Swimmer of the Year Swimmers Choice award, with compatriot Natalie Coughlin (15.43 percent) and France's Laure Manaudou (12.14 percent) completing the top three choices for the award.
World Female Swimmer of the Year
Kate Ziegler, USA 31.24%
Natalie Coughlin, USA 15.43%
Laure Manaudou, FRA 12.14%
Libby Lenton, AUS 9.74%
Therese Alshammar, SWE 9.36%
Katie Hoff, USA 8.81%
Leisel Jones, AUS 4.82%
Kirsty Coventry, ZIM 4.30%
Otylia Jedrzejczak, POL 2.39%
Leila Vaziri, USA 1.77%
The men's accolade provided a landslide upset vote as the Brazilian voters mobilized their online voting for the award. Brazil's Thiago Pereira walked away with an amazing 56.74 percent of the vote to claim the men's Swimmers Choice award, while the United States' Michael Phelps placed second with 20.42 percent. Korea's Tae Hwan Park finished third with 11.01 percent.
World Male Swimmer of the Year
Thiago Pereira, BRA 56.74%
Michael Phelps, USA 20.42%
Tae Hwan Park, KOR 11.01%
Ryan Lochte, USA 4.89%
Stefan Nystrand, SWE 3.11%
Brendan Hansen, USA 1.03%
Aaron Peirsol, USA 0.92%
Roland Schoeman, RSA 0.67%
Mateusz Sawrymowicz, POL 0.51%
Filippo Magnini, ITA 0.33%
Alain Bernard, FRA 0.23%
Kosuke Kitajima, JPN 0.14%
In the coming days, we will see whether Swimming World's expert panel of voters agree with some of these choices as we roll out the World and Regional Swimmers of the Year awards.
