Athlete of the Year Awards for 2020 & 2021
KITCHENER, ON, June,15 2022—] The Athlete of the Year Kitchener-Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich Organizing Committee announces the Recipients of the 2020 and 2021 Athlete of the Year Award.
At the 23rd/24th Annual Athlete of the Year Award Ceremony, held on June 15/22 at the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum, Athlete of the Year awards were presented as follows:
- The 2020 Athlete of the Year is Shelina Zadorsky, Soccer – The Football Association Women’s Super League (FA WSL), Tottenham Hotspur team captain, Shelina played a leading role with Team Canada during their run to the silver medal at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament where they secured the spot for Tokyo 2020. In her second Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020, Zadorsky helped lead Canada to its first gold medal in women’s soccer and Olympic Gold.
Shelina Zadorsky (2020 recipient)
- The 2021 Athlete of the Year is Ben Flanagan, Track and Field – Ben set a course record to win the Canadian 10k Championship race after remarkably finishing 1st in five (5) additional 2021 International races where he competed in a variety of distance events ranging from the 11.2K ASICS Falmouth Road Race to the Virginia Beach Invitational 3k race and including 5k, 7.6k and 10k races.
Michelle and Ron Flanagan watching the screen as their son, Ben, gives his acceptance speech on being named KW Athlete of the Year for 2021.
All the Nominees for 2020 and 2021 were outstanding athletes who persevered through two very difficult years where various COVID related mandates and precautions meant less opportunity for competition and, in many cases, even less opportunity to practice, achieving remarkable success in their chosen sports.
Video of the 2020 Nominees (by 519 Sports OnLine) - https://youtu.be/mB85fR75byA
Video of 2020 Recipient Shelina Zadorsky - https://youtu.be/WPh0HfhSg_w
Video of the 2021 Nominees by 519 Online Sports - https://youtu.be/EYarMcaQESI
Video of 2021 Recipient Ben Flanagan - https://youtu.be/eOHTW1RXPF4
Co-Chair John Thompson stated, "The Athlete of the Year program is appreciative of the 30 dedicated community sports volunteers who have been enthusiastically working behind the scenes to research and eventually choose recipients for the past two years despite the challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. "
Athlete of the Year Kitchener-Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich was initially established in in 1997 with a goal to recognize Athletic excellence in a meaningful way.
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If you would like more information about this topic, please call Bob Stebbings at 519-241-8295, or email bob.stebbings@rogers.com