The world’s best aquatics athletes of the year were honored Saturday, December 2 in the fourth edition of theรย FINA World Aquatics Gala “Soirรยฉe des Etoiles”รย 2017 held in Sanya, China.
Swimming legends Caeleb Dressel of the U.S. and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom received theรย FINA Best Male/Female Swimmer 2017รย award respectively, a first for both athletes, while Croatia and the USA were honored with theรย FINA Best Male/Female Water Polo Team 2017รย recognition respectively. The U.S. female water polo team has bagged the highest FINA award for the fourth consecutive time, since the inception of the Gala in 2014.
Great Britain’s Thomas Daley received theรย FINA Best Male Diver 2017รย title for the first time, while Shi Tingmao (CHN) bagged the female equivalent award for the third consecutive year, since 2015.
Inรย artistic swimming, Russia’s Svetlana Kolesnichenko got the top honor, while two male competitors, Italy’s Giorgio Minisini and Russia’s Aleksandr Maltsev shared the prize. They took one gold apiece (mixed duet free and mixed duet technical) at the FINA World Championships in Budapest last summer.
Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA) and Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) were awarded theรย FINA Best Male/Female Open Water Swimmer 2017, and high divers Steve LoBue (USA) and Rhiannan Iffland (AUS) completed the list of winners tonight in Sanya.
Masters athletesรย Bela Banki (HUN, swimming, 97) and Maurine Kornfeld (USA, swimming 96) were also praised during the evening.
Finally, theรย FINA Media Award of 2017รย was awarded to Chinese newswire Xinhua News (represented byรย Mr. Zhou Jie).
FINA President Julio C. Maglione said: “At the FINA World Championships, but also during our top annual events during the last months, our best athletes were able to shine for the delight of the spectators on site, but also for the millions of TV viewers that regularly follow our competitions. Their effort and commitment make Aquatics bigger and gives FINA a privileged rank in the Olympic world.”
“We also pay a fair tribute to coaches tonight. These men and women that are able to detect a potential champion, and then guide this boy or girl to excellence, are a central piece of Aquaticsรขโฌโข success!”
The รขโฌลSoirรยฉe des Etoilesรขโฌย (the รขโฌลEvening of the Starsรขโฌย) was first held in Doha (QAT), before the start of the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m). For 2015, it was organized in Budapest (HUN) on January 31, 2016. The 2016 awardees were known in Windsor (CAN) on December 4, 2016, a couple of days before the start of the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m).
See FINA.org
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