American gymnast Simone Biles and Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, two of the brightest stars from this year’s Olympics in Paris, are the AIPS Athletes of the Year 2024, as voted by 518 journalists from 111 countries.
The traditional end-of-year poll, organised by AIPS, is the most international poll dedicated to the debate regarding the athletes that dominated the sports world in the outgoing year.
Biles, who won three Olympic gold medals and one silver in Paris, garnered 703 points to win the Best Female Athlete of the Year award for the fifth time, ahead of Spain and Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati, who was recently named The Best FIFA Women’s Player for a second year in a row (337 points) and Saint Lucia’s first ever Olympic gold medallist in the 100m and silver medallist in the 200m, Julien Alfred in third with 263 points.
Following his record-breaking season, Duplantis also dominated the Best Male Athlete of the Year category with 603 points. The Swedish star, who finished second in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the AIPS poll, has finally secured the prestigious prize for the first time. Serbian tennis icon, Novak Djokovic, who at 37 became the oldest Olympic gold medallist in men’s singles and just the fifth tennis player to achieve the career Golden Slam, finished second with 368 points, while Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, who became the first male cyclist since 1987 to win the ‘Triple Crown’ of the men’s Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and world title in the same year, finished third with 294 points.
AIPS BEST FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Simone Arianne Biles, born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, has now won the AIPS Female Athlete of the Year accolade five times in the last eight years and consecutively on two occasions (2016, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024) after taking the Paris 2024 Olympics by storm to cement her status as the the world’s most decorated gymnast.
The 27-year-old icon dazzled on her Olympics return as she soared to four Olympic medals, including team, all-around and vault golds and a silver medal on the floor exercise, and banished the memories of Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), where she abruptly quit the Olympic team final after suffering the ‘twisties’.
Boasting a total of 11 Olympic medals (seven gold, two silver, and two bronze medals) won across three Olympic Games: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024, Biles made history in Paris as she became the most decorated American Olympic gymnast of all time.
Biles, who made her international debut in 2013, also owns 30 World Championship medals, including 23 world gold medals, and is widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time.
Below are the Top 10
1. Biles Simone (USA) – Gymnastics – 703
2. Bonmatí Aitana (Spain) – Football – 337
3. Alfred Julien (Saint Lucia) – Athletics – 263
4. Hassan Sifan (Netherlands) – Athletics – 226
5. Marta (Brazil) – Football – 196
6. Ledecky Katie (USA) – Swimming – 187
7. Shiffrin Mikaela (USA) – Alpine skiing – 176
8. Mahuchikh Yaroslava (Ukraine) – Athletics – 165
9. Chebet Beatrice (Kenya) – Athletics – 157
10. Swiatek Iga (Poland) – Tennis – 144
AIPS BEST MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR In 2024, Sweden’s Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, born on November 10, 1999 in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States, continued his imperious form as the dominant force of pole vault.
He defended his titles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, European Athletics Championships and Olympic Games and cleared world records of 6.24m, 6.25m and 6.26m en route to an unbeaten season – indoors and outdoors.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Duplantis soared to his ninth world record of 6.25m, having already secured gold earlier with a vault of 6.00m to become the first back-to-back champion in men’s pole vault since the 1950s. Two weeks later, the 25-year-old Swedish star broke the world record for the tenth time in his career at the Silesia Diamond League Meeting in Poland. He first broke the world record in February of 2020.
He also owns the eight best vaults of the 2024 season, including the championship record of 6.10m that earned him a third successive European outdoor title in Rome in June and the meeting record of 6.11m at the Allianz Memorial van Damme in Brussels where he won his fourth consecutive Diamond League Trophy.
Duplantis took to pole vaulting at an early age and, under the guidance of his father Greg, has been a record-breaker since he was seven years old.
Below are the Top 10
1. Duplantis Armand (Sweden) – Athletics – 603
2. Djokovic Novak (Serbia) – Tennis – 368
3. Pogačar Tadej (Slovenia) – Cycling – 294
4. Marchand León (France) – Swimming – 246
5. Vinícius Junior (Brazil) – Football – 226
6. Alcaraz Carlos (Spain) – Tennis – 220
7. Yamal Lamine (Spain) – Football – 211
8. Sinner Jannik (Italy) – Tennis – 180
9. López Mijain (Cuba) – Wrestling – 172
10. Rodri (Spain) – Football – 144
AIPS Members from the following 111 countries participated in the Best of 2024 poll: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Rep., Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, DR Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic Of Korea, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Trinidad And Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela and Yemen
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of AIPS Africa.
