The nominees for "Best Male Track Athlete" are Justin Gatlin, Bershawn Jackson and Asafa Powell. The nominees for "Best Female Track Athlete" are Allyson Felix, Michelle Perry, and Sanya Richards. Other track-related nominees include Four Minutes for "Best Sports Movie "and Virginia Powell for "Best Female College Athlete".
At first glance, these nominations are strange. Four Minutes doesn't deserve to be up for any award; it was barely tolerable. One might think two-sport star Xavier Carter might have been nominated for best male college athlete, considering that he was the first man since Jesse Owens to win four events at the NCAA outdoor championships. And why weren't any track stars up for "Best International Athlete"? It all makes much more sense when you realize that any awards show is nothing but an orgy of self-congratulation and self-promotion. Ergo, the ESPYs are about ESPN and not sports in general.
So I understand the featured sports and events will be things that were either broadcast on EPSN or part of a sport they feature prominently. Four Minutes is nominated because it was an ESPN creation, and Carter was skipped over because college track was not on ESPN this year. The best track athlete category is obviously not specifically an American one with Asafa Powell in the mix, but it looks darn close to that. Personally, I think Lashinda Demus deserves a nomination more than Sanya Richards but it's close.
I voted for Gatlin and Felix. Gatlin won the World Championships 100 and 200 last year and has tied the world record. Felix withdrew from the USATF final last weekend with a sore leg, but was undefeated in the event last year.
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