Chloe Kim (L), Jordan Burroughs (R) and the women's soccer team (C) earned Best of February honors for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Outstanding performances during the month of February earned snowboarder Chloe Kim, wrestler Jordan Burroughs and the U.S. women’s soccer team Best of February honors for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow, the United States Olympic Committee announced today.
Kim (Long Beach, California) led an American podium sweep in halfpipe snowboarding at the U.S. Grand Prix in Park City, Utah, where she made history by becoming the first woman ever to land back-to-back 1080’s and score a perfect 100. She went on to win double gold medals at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Norway, sweeping the women’s halfpipe and slopestyle snowboarding titles before returning to the same venue in Oslo, where she led a U.S. podium sweep in the women’s superpipe at the Winter X Games. The win marked her fifth gold medal in as many weeks.
Burroughs (Sicklerville, New Jersey) extended his career record to 122-2 with wins at two major international tournaments in February. At the highly respected Yasar Dogu International in Istanbul, Turkey, he won three of his four matches by technical fall to claim the gold medal at 74 kg. He then added a gold medal at the Pan American Championships on Feb. 27 in Frisco, Texas, where he won all four matches by technical fall, highlighted by a rousing 12-2 decision over Carlos Arturo Izquierdo Mendez of Colombia in the final.
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team earned an Olympic berth at the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship with a 5-0 semifinal victory over Trinidad &Tobago on Feb. 19 in Houston. The U.S. went on to defeat Canada, 2-0, in the final, winning the tournament for the fourth consecutive time. The U.S. won all five games – outscoring its opponents 22-0 – and swept the tournament awards with Morgan Brian earning MVP, Hope Solo recognized as Best Goalkeeper and Crystal Dunn earning Top Scorer. Collectively, the U.S. women also claimed the Fair Play Award and had eight players named to the Best XI, including Solo, Kelley O'Hara, Becky Sauerbrunn, Lindsey Horan, Brian, Tobin Heath, Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd.
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. An internal nominating committee selects five nominees from both the male and female categories, and three from the team category to advance to the voting round. Votes received from NGB representatives and select members of the media account for 50 percent of the final tally, with the other half determined by online fan voting via TeamUSA.org/Awards.
In addition to Dow, the presenting sponsor, the Team USA Awards are supported by Coca-Cola, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Kellogg’s, Samsung and USG.
