# Best Female Athlete ESPY Award

The Best Female Athlete ESPY Award, known alternatively as the Outstanding Female Athlete ESPY Award, has been presented annually at the ESPY Awards (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) since 1993 to the female voted to be, irrespective of nationality or sport contested, the best athlete in a given calendar year. Between 1993 and 2004, the award voting panel comprised variously of fans; sportswriters and broadcasters, sports executives, and retired sportspersons, termed collectively experts; and ESPN personalities, but balloting thereafter has been exclusively by fans over the Internet from amongst choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee. Through the 2001 iteration of the ESPY Awards, ceremonies were conducted in February of each year to honor achievements over the previous calendar year; awards presented thereafter are conferred in June and reflect performance from the June previous.
Five athletes, American soccer player Mia Hamm, Swedish golfer Annika Sörenstam, American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, American tennis player Serena Williams, and American mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey have won the award twice. Hamm was honored in 1998 and 2000, Sörenstam in 2005 and 2006, Vonn in 2010 and 2011, Williams in 2003 and 2013, and Rousey in 2014 and 2015. Sörenstam, Osaka, and Monica Seles are the only honorees not to represent the United States at the time of their win. Of the winners, seven have played basketball, the most of any sport; the other sports with multiple individuals awarded are tennis, gymnastics, soccer, and swimming. The award wasn't given in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## List of winners

| Year | Image | Athlete | Nation represented | Sport | Ref(s) |
| 1993 | | Monica Seles | Yugoslavia | Tennis | |
| 1994 | | Julie Krone | United States | Thoroughbred horse racing | |
| 1995 | | Bonnie Blair | United States | Speed skating | |
| 1996 | | Rebecca Lobo | United States | Basketball | |
| 1997 | | Amy Van Dyken | United States | Swimming | |
| 1998 | | Mia Hamm | United States | Soccer | |
| 1999 | | Chamique Holdsclaw | United States | Basketball | |
| 2000 | | Mia Hamm (2) | United States | Soccer | |
| 2001 | | Marion Jones | United States | Track and field | |
| 2002 | | Venus Williams | United States | Tennis | |
| 2003 | | Serena Williams | United States | Tennis | |
| 2004 | | Diana Taurasi | United States | Basketball | |
| 2005 | | Annika Sörenstam | Sweden | Golf | |
| 2006 | | Annika Sörenstam (2) | Sweden | Golf | |
| 2007 | | Taryne Mowatt | United States | Softball | |
| 2008 | | Candace Parker | United States | Basketball | |
| 2009 | | Nastia Liukin | United States | Gymnastics | |
| 2010 | | Lindsey Vonn | United States | Alpine skiing | |
| 2011 | | Lindsey Vonn (2) | United States | Alpine skiing | |
| 2012 | | Brittney Griner | United States | Basketball | |
| 2013 | | Serena Williams (2) | United States | Tennis | |
| 2014 | | Ronda Rousey | United States | Mixed martial arts | |
| 2015 | | Ronda Rousey (2) | United States | Mixed martial arts | |
| 2016 | | Breanna Stewart | United States | Basketball | |
| 2017 | | Simone Biles | United States | Gymnastics | |
| 2018 | | Chloe Kim | United States | Snowboarding | |
| 2019 | | Alex Morgan | United States | Soccer | |
| 2020 | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | | Naomi Osaka | Japan | Tennis | |
| 2022 | | Katie Ledecky | United States | Swimming | |
| 2023 | | Mikaela Shiffrin | United States | Alpine skiing | |
| 2024 | | A'ja Wilson | United States | Basketball | |

## Statistics

Winners by sport contested :
| Sport contested | Winners (awards) | Winners (individuals) |
| Basketball | 7 | 7 |
| Tennis | 5 | 4 |
| Association football | 3 | 2 |
| Gymnastics | 2 | 2 |
| Swimming | 2 | 2 |
| Alpine skiing | 3 | 2 |
| Golf | 2 | 1 |
| Mixed martial arts | 2 | 1 |
| Track and field | 1 | 1 |
| Softball | 1 | 1 |
| Speed skating | 1 | 1 |
| Thoroughbred horse racing | 1 | 1 |
| Snowboarding | 1 | 1 |
Winners by nation represented :
| Nation | Winners (awards) | Winners (individuals) |
| United States | 27 | 23 |
| Sweden | 2 | 1 |
| Yugoslavia | 1 | 1 |
| Japan | 1 | 1 |