Clark Honored as AP Female Athlete of the Year

It was Caitlin Clark’s world and we were just living in it as spectators of greatness in 2024, and she was honored for her many achievements on Tuesday.

Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press announced that Clark was named the outlet’s Female Athlete of the Year thanks to “her impact on and off the court.” The Indiana Fever superstar garnered 35 out of a possible 74 votes from a panel of sports journalists from the AP.

A pair of Olympic gold medalists came in second and third place with gymnast Simone Biles capturing 25 of the votes and boxer Imane Khelif receiving four of the votes.

Clark’s 2024 whirlwind started in college where she led the Iowa Hawkeyes to their second straight national championship game all while breaking the longstanding NCAA Division I career scoring record, previously held by Pete Maravich, for both men and women with 3,951 points.

To know one’s surprise, she became the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 WNBA draft and quickly established herself as a success at the next level.

Her trophy case just got bigger. She took home the Rookie of the Year Award and was an All-Star while filling up the stat sheet, averaging 19.2 points, 8.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals a game and shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from 3-point range.

Clark also led the Fever to their first playoff appearance since the 2016 campaign and has them ready to go and pumped for long-term success even though they lost in the first round to the Connecticut Sun.

It was not just her excellence in between the lines that stood out, as she helped elevate the popularity and viewership of women’s basketball at both the collegiate and WNBA levels to new heights, along with her rival Angel Reese. As Feinberg noted, WNBA television audience increased drastically by 300 percent during her rookie season, which came after the women’s NCAA championship game between Iowa and South Carolina outdrew the men’s television ratings.

It was the first time in a 42-year history the women’s championship game outdrew the men’s title game.

“You’d be remiss not to acknowledge how crazy her fan base is and the eyes she gets with everything she does,” said Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was often spotted courtside at Clark’s Indiana Fever games. “It’s a different type of popularity; she’s one of the most popular athletes in the world. It’s not just women’s sports anymore.

“It’s really cool to see and she just handles it with such grace.”

That excitement did not plateau after she left Iowa, as the 2024 WNBA draft held in April amassed a league-record 2.4 million viewers. And she then played in 20 of the 23 WNBA games that drew more than 1 million viewers in her rookie campaign.

With millions viewing her games on television and in attendance at stadiums, Clark put up legendary, record-breaking performances that helped her become just the fourth women’s basketball player to win this coveted award.

“I’m thankful for the people I got to do it with,” Clark said. “A year ago, I was still in the early part of my senior year in college. … How fast things change, and now I can see how great a college season it was.”

She joined an elite group which includes Sheryl Swoopes (1993), who helped win the first four WNBA championships, Rebecca Lobo (1995), who was the leader on the first Yukon Women’s Team to win the title and Candace Parker (2008, 2021), who won Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in her first season with the Los Angeles Sparks, as those who have received the honor.

“I grew up a fan of Candace Parker and the people who came before me and to be honored in this way, is super special and I’m thankful,” Clark said. “It was a great year for women’s basketball and women’s sports.”

Lobo, who is not a color analyst for ESPN, also has been impressed with the way Clark, 22, has handled the pressure and attention that has come her way.

“I would say she’s navigated it almost flawlessly. She hasn’t had any big missteps or misspeaks at a time you’re under constant scrutiny,” Lobo said. “She’s seemed to say and do all the right things. That’s just incredible at a time when it’s constant attention and scrutiny. She has not done anything to tarnish this sort of mild persona she has.”

As for Biles, she further cemented her legacy as one of the greatest Olympians of all-time with three gold medals and a silver medal during the 2024 Paris Games. She won gold in the women’s all-around, women’s team and women’s vault competitions while capturing silver in the women’s floor event.

Khelif also took home a gold in Paris when she won the final of the women’s welterweight division in boxing. The triumph came after she faced controversy stemming from false gender claims during the Olympics.