Sarah Hughes Named Sullivan Award Finalist

[PAskate]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=577&e=3&cid=577&u=/nm/20030212/sp_nm/sullivan_dc

[Spinner]

Congrats and good luck to Sarah! She's certainly deserving.

[rack]

Three cheers for Sarah (and the other excellent finalists). Just to be nominated is a great honor.:D

[manleywoman]

She's more than qualified and deserving to win, but I have a hard time seeing the powers that be on the judging committee giving the Sullivan award to figure skaters two years in a row. It's a shame.

[drdave98]

I said this before and I'll say it again. Sullivan missed the meaning of Amateur. Sarah is not an amateur. She's a paid professional in amateur clothing. The USFSA is cheapening the term Amateur by allowing their athletes to get endorsement deals that a college player would become ineligible if he/she were to sign an endorsement deal. Last year, it was Michelle Kwan winning the award as an amateur. This year, Sarah isnominated. Will Sullivan get it straight and say the award is for the best athlete amateur or professional?

[duane]

congratulations sarah! i agree with manleywoman that i dont see a figure skater winning the award 2 years in a row, but as mentioned, it's an honor to be nominated.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by manleywoman
She's more than qualified and deserving to win, but I have a hard time seeing the powers that be on the judging committee giving the Sullivan award to figure skaters two years in a row.

Well, I'd hesitate to say she's necessarily deserving of the win. Sure, it's impressive that she skated so well at the Olympics and won the gold medal. But, although I know next to nothing about college wrestling, the other athlete mentioned who was the first wrestler to finish his college career undefeated sounds a LOT more impressive to me. If Sarah doesn't win, don't assume it's because she's a figure skater. Nice that she was named a finalist, though!

[duane]

i too thought the wrestler's record was more impressive--well, it sounds more impressive. however, sarah has been more in the public spotlight than the other nominees, and has carried herself with total class and character throughout. since the Sullivan Award is based on "qualities of leadership, character, sportsmanship, and the ideals of amateurism", this should give the edge to sarah! :D

[Coles]

Sarah is up against some tough competition. Cael Sanderson and Natalie Coughlin were both finalists last year as well. I read an article on Natalie and it sounds like she racked up some impressive races in 2002, including 5 gold medals at the US Nationals, a first ever. I think those two alone are "competition" enough, but it's truly an honor for Sarah to be nominated..........she's in fine company.

[rack]

I don't think one should underestimate the iconic value of winning Ladies at the Olympics. Since only the Superbowl consistently beats it in the ratings, it is most likely the best watched non-team sporting event, at least in the United States. As one of the ESPN sportswriters said, it's the single most pressure filled event in all of sports. And Sarah delivered the goods.

As far as amateur goes, I remember from last year when Michelle won how startled I was by previous winners of the Sullivan Award. They clearly favor the big name athlete. I suppose it could be argued no one is an amateur anymore; even college athletes get paid in scholarships.

And something that might give Sarah extra credit in the determination for the Sullivan Award is that she is the first Olympic ladies figure skating champion to continue to compete the following year since 1984. In some ways that's as good a definition of "amateur" as anything else.

Even before the Olympics, Sarah had a remarkably successful skating career, and now she has that and Harvard as a fall-back school. No one can predict how a life is going to turn out, but with or without the Sullivan Award, Sarah has a great deal going for her.

[hiliairyh]

Originally posted by Coles
an honor for Sarah to be nominated..........she's in fine company.

Congratulations to Sarah, it is an honor, and nice to see skaters back to back nominated for this award.