The Best Female Athlete ESPY Award, but it is 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.Because of the rescheduling of the ESPY Awards ceremony, the award presented in 2002 was given in consideration of performance between February 2001 and June 2002.

To date a total of seven athletes who are American soccer player Mia Hamm, Swedish golfer Annika Sörenstam, American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, American tennis player Serena Williams, American mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey, American gymnast Simone Biles, and American basketball player A'ja Wilson 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, Rousey in 2014 and 2015, Biles in 2017 and 2025, and Wilson in 2024 and 2026. Sörenstam, Osaka, and Monica Seles are the only honorees not to represent the United States at the time of their win. Of the winners, eight 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 YearImageAthleteNation representedSport1993 Tennis1994 Thoroughbred horse racing1995 Speed skating1996 Basketball1997 Swimming1998 Soccer1999 Basketball2000 (2)Soccer2001 Track and field2002 Tennis2003 2004 Basketball2005 Golf2006 (2)2007 Softball2008 Basketball2009 Gymnastics2010 Alpine skiing2011 (2)2012 Basketball2013 (2)Tennis2014 Mixed martial arts2015 (2)2016 Basketball2017 Gymnastics2018 Snowboarding2019 Soccer2020Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic2021 Tennis2022 Swimming2023 Alpine skiing2024 Basketball2025 (2)Gymnastics2026 (2)Basketball

Statistics +Winners by sport contested Sport contested Winners (awards) Winners (individuals) Basketball88 Tennis54 Association football32 Gymnastics32 Swimming22 Alpine skiing32 Golf21 Mixed martial arts21 Track and field11 Softball11 Speed skating11 Thoroughbred horse racing11 Snowboarding11

+Winners by nation represented Nation Winners (awards) Winners (individuals) 2924 21 11 11

See also

List of sports awards honoring women Best Male Athlete ESPY Award

Notes

References