Colorado Springs, CO – The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has named Park City, Utah’s Ted Ligety as its 2012-13 Olympic SportsMan of the Year, the organization’s highest annual individual athlete honor.

Ligety, the first male alpine skier to win the award, will be honored this Tuesday at a ceremony in New York City’s Times Square during the USOC’s 100 Days Out festivities. Lindsey Vonn, Picabo Street and Tamara McKinney have previously won the women’s accolade.

“It’s definitely a huge honor to get an award like this. It’s really cool to be considered among the top athletes in the U.S.,” Ligety said. “I’m innately super competitive. Because I didn’t have the best physical attributes, I had to be a hard worker. And not having that success made me become a harder worker than I would have been if I was good when I was 13 years old. I think that’s something that, as I grew older, worked to my advantage.”

The 2006 Olympic gold medalist produced a historic season that resulted in three gold medals at the 2013 FIS Alpine World Ski Championship and six Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom victories en route to the fourth World Cup giant slalom title of his career. With his triple gold, Ligety became the first man in 45 years to win three or more gold in one World Championships.

With his six World Cup victories, Ligety joined Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark as the only man to win six or more giant slalom races in a single season. Many of Ligety’s wins were by record margins including a massive 2.75 second win at the opening race of the 2013 season in Soelden, Austria. It was the biggest margin of victory in 34 years.

“This award is a well-deserved testament to the amount of time, energy and hard work Ted has devoted to making himself best in the world,” comment U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association president and CEO, Bill Marolt.

Ligety is being honored along with Katie Ledecky (Olympic SportsWoman of the Year), the U.S. Men’s Doubles Tennis Team (Olympic Team of the Year), Monica Bascio (Paralympic SportsWoman of the Year), Raymond Martin (Paralympic SportsMan of the Year) and the U.S. Men’s 4×100-meter Track & Field Team (Paralympic Team of the Year).

The award has been presented to the top overall male and female athletes from USOC member organizations since 1974.

AWARD HISTORY

SportsMan of the Year
1974 Jim Bolding, Track & Field
1975 Clinton Jackson, Boxing
1976 John Naber, Swimming
1977 Eric Heiden, Speedskating
1978 Bruce Davidson, Equestrian
1979 Eric Heiden, Speedskating
1980 Eric Heiden, Speedskating
1981 Scott Hamilton, Figure Skating
1982 Greg Louganis, Diving
1983 Rick McKinney, Archery
1984 Edwin Moses, Track & Field
1985 Willie Banks, Track & Field
1986 Matt Biondi, Swimming
1987 Greg Louganis, Diving
1988 Matt Biondi, Swimming
1989 Roger Kingdom, Track & Field
1990 John Smith, Wrestling
1991 Carl Lewis, Track & Field
1992 Pablo Morales, Swimming
1993 Michael Johnson, Track & Field
1994 Dan Jansen, Speedskating
1995 Michael Johnson, Track & Field
1996 Michael Johnson, Track & Field
1997 Pete Sampras, Tennis
1998 Jonny Moseley, Skiing
1999 Lance Armstrong, Cycling
2000 Rulon Gardner, Wrestling
2001 Lance Armstrong, Cycling
2002 Lance Armstrong, Cycling
2003 Lance Armstrong, Cycling
2004 Michael Phelps, Swimming
2005 Hunter Kemper, Triathlon
2006 Joey Cheek, Speedskating
2007 Tyson Gay, Track & Field
2008 Michael Phelps, Swimming
2009 Todd Lodwick, Nordic Combined
2010 Evan Lysacek, Figure Skating
2011-12 Michael Phelps, Swimming
2013 Ted Ligety, Skiing

SportsWoman of the Year
1974 Shirley Babashoff, Swimming
1975 Kathy Heddy, Swimming
1976 Sheila Young, Speedskating
1977 Linda Fratianne, Figure Skating
1978 Tracy Caulkins, Swimming
1979 Cynthia “Sippy” Woodhead, Swimming
1980 Beth Heiden, Speedskating
1981 Sheila Young Ochowicz, Cycling/Speedskating
1982 Melanie Smith, Equestrian
1983 Tamara McKinney, Skiing
1984 Tracy Caulkins, Swimming
1985 Mary Decker Slaney, Track & Field
1986 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Track & Field
1987 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Track & Field
1988 Florence Griffith Joyner, Track & Field
1989 Janet Evans, Swimming
1990 Lynn Jennings, Track & Field
1991 Kim Zmeskal, Gymnastics
1992 Bonnie Blair, Speedskating
1993 Gail Devers, Track & Field
1994 Bonnie Blair, Speedskating
1995 Picabo Street, Skiing
1996 Amy Van Dyken, Swimming
1997 Tara Lipinski, Figure Skating
1998 Picabo Street, Skiing
1999 Jenny Thompson, Swimming
2000 Marion Jones, Track & Field
2001 Jennifer Capriati, Tennis
2002 Sarah Hughes, Figure Skating
2003 Michelle Kwan, Figure Skating
2004 Carly Patterson, Gymnastics
2005 Katie Hoff, Swimming
2006 Hannah Teter, Snowboarding
2007 Katie Hoff, Swimming
2008 Natalie Coughlin, Swimming and Nastia Liukin, Gymnastics
2009 Lindsey Vonn, Skiing
2010 Lindsey Vonn, Skiing
2011-12 Allyson Felix, Track & Field
2013 Katie Ledecky, Swimming