Two AAU Sullivan Award Winners, Michael Phelps and Michelle Kwan, to be Inducted into U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame
06/06/2022
Michael Phelps and Michelle Kwan will be inducted as part of the Class of 2022 on June 24.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 6, 2022) – Two AAU James E. Sullivan award winners —Michael Phelps and Michelle Kwan — are headed to the U.S. Olympic & Paralymic Hall of Fame.
Phelps and Kwan will be inducted as part of the Class of 2022 on June 24 at the U.S. Olympic & Paralymic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Kwan won the AAU Sullivan Award in 2001, during the 72nd awards ceremony. She is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, a two-time Olympic medalist, five-time world champion and nine-time world championship medalist.
Phelps brought home the AAU Sullivan Award in 2003, during the 74th awards ceremony. He is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals, and the winningest Olympian of all time with 23 gold medals. In 2000, at the age of 15, he became the youngest American male Olympian since 1932 and his eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games is an Olympic record.
The AAU Sullivan Award, which is older than The Heisman, is known as the “Oscar” of sports awards. It honors the top outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level in the United States. The award has been presented since 1930 as a salute to founder and past president of the Amateur Athletic Union, James E. Sullivan.
In addition to Kwan and Phelps, another Class of 2022 inductee with ties to AAU is the 1976 Women’s 4x100 Freestyle Relay Swimming Team. Prior to the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, the AAU was the organization preparing and developing athletes for the Olympics (what the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee is now). In 1976, the U.S. Women’s 4x100 Freestyle Relay Team broke the world record by four seconds, and defeated a team of what was later revealed to be state-sponsored, medically enhanced athletes from East Germany, in the final event on the swimming program.
The other U.S. Olympic & Paralymic Hall of Fame inductees this year include Natalie Coughlin (swimming), Muffy Davis (Para alpine skiing and Para-cycling), Mia Hamm (soccer), David Kiley (Para alpine skiing, Para track and field, and wheelchair basketball), Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing), Trischa Zorn-Hudson (Para swimming), the 2002 Paralympic Sled Hockey Team, Gretchen Fraser (legend: alpine skiing), Roger Kingdom (legend: track and field), Pat Summitt (coach: basketball) and Billie Jean King (special contributor).
The Class of 2022 was determined by a voting process that included Olympians and Paralympians, members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic family, and an online vote open to fans.
Congratulations to all the honorees!
Phelps and Kwan will be inducted as part of the Class of 2022 on June 24 at the U.S. Olympic & Paralymic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Kwan won the AAU Sullivan Award in 2001, during the 72nd awards ceremony. She is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, a two-time Olympic medalist, five-time world champion and nine-time world championship medalist.
Phelps brought home the AAU Sullivan Award in 2003, during the 74th awards ceremony. He is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals, and the winningest Olympian of all time with 23 gold medals. In 2000, at the age of 15, he became the youngest American male Olympian since 1932 and his eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games is an Olympic record.
The AAU Sullivan Award, which is older than The Heisman, is known as the “Oscar” of sports awards. It honors the top outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level in the United States. The award has been presented since 1930 as a salute to founder and past president of the Amateur Athletic Union, James E. Sullivan.
In addition to Kwan and Phelps, another Class of 2022 inductee with ties to AAU is the 1976 Women’s 4x100 Freestyle Relay Swimming Team. Prior to the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, the AAU was the organization preparing and developing athletes for the Olympics (what the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee is now). In 1976, the U.S. Women’s 4x100 Freestyle Relay Team broke the world record by four seconds, and defeated a team of what was later revealed to be state-sponsored, medically enhanced athletes from East Germany, in the final event on the swimming program.
The other U.S. Olympic & Paralymic Hall of Fame inductees this year include Natalie Coughlin (swimming), Muffy Davis (Para alpine skiing and Para-cycling), Mia Hamm (soccer), David Kiley (Para alpine skiing, Para track and field, and wheelchair basketball), Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing), Trischa Zorn-Hudson (Para swimming), the 2002 Paralympic Sled Hockey Team, Gretchen Fraser (legend: alpine skiing), Roger Kingdom (legend: track and field), Pat Summitt (coach: basketball) and Billie Jean King (special contributor).
The Class of 2022 was determined by a voting process that included Olympians and Paralympians, members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic family, and an online vote open to fans.
Congratulations to all the honorees!
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