And the athlete of the year award goes to… Susana Rodriguez! The European Paralympic Committee has officially crowned the 36-year-old blind triathlete as 2024 Female Athlete of the Year. Aurélie Aubert (France), Fleur Jong (Netherlands), Alice Tay (Great Britain) and Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) had to bow to the Spanish player's insolent season. Accompanied by her guide Sara Pérez, she achieved a resounding treble by winning the Paralympic title, the world title and the European title last year. Rodriguez had already reached the top step of the podium at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
In the men's category, the prize was awarded to swimmer Umut Ünlü, who was competing with Alexandre Léauté (France), Simone Barlaam (Italy), Markus Rehm (Germany) and Ricardo Ten (Spain). The 23-year-old became the first Turkish athlete to win two gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Paris. He dominated the 50-meter freestyle as well as the 200-meter freestyle in his category. Turkey is well off since its women's goalball team was named Team of the Year. The Turks won Olympic gold for the third consecutive time last summer in Paris. The three awards were given out in a vote combining the public (40%) and three jurors from the Committee (60%).
