Caitlin Clark's latest award: TIME's Athlete of the Year for 2024
After what she did for women's college basketball and the WNBA, Caitlin Clark joins a list of winners that includes the 2019 USWNT, LeBron James, Simone Biles, Aaron Judge, and Lionel Messi.
TIME Magazine got it right: Caitlin Clark is the athlete of the year. They made it official Tuesday with the announcement and a long feature story on the Indiana Fever rookie.
She’s done it all in the past year, from player of the year in college to rookie of the year in WNBA — and finishing fourth in the MVP voting. Most of all, she’s taken the league to new heights, brought millions of new eyeballs, sold millions of dollars in merchandise, along with selling out every arena she’s played in this past season.
Taylor Swift just completed an elite two-year Eras Tour that grossed billions of dollars. The Clark Tour has been Swift-light, which is appropriate because Clark is a Swiftie and attended two of her three shows in Indy last month.
This award is new, established in 2019 to recognize excellence, cultural impact, and achievements both on and off the field. She joins a star-studded list: 2019 U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, LeBron James, Simone Biles, Aaron Judge, and Lionel Messi.
That’s elite. Legends. Hall of Famers.
And she’s 22, just getting started.
Clark has done all that and more at such a young age. More than a month before she had even graduated from the University of Iowa, she was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft. Then she immediately uplifted the Indiana Fever and led them back to the playoffs for the first time since Tamika Catchings’ final season in 2016.
This feature was a wide-ranging interview by Sean Gregory, who annually writes this piece. He came to Indianapolis one month ago to meet with Clark and others. He was in the gym with her, riding in her car. It was access she rarely has allowed. As you can imagine, she’s in high demand and cannot fulfill most requests.
Click here to read the full story.
What stood out to me most: How confident, yet fun and ornery she is. How she recognizes her place and importance to the league while also spotlighting others. And how going anywhere must be a real challenge. A 30-page security detail? Wow.
I do wish the feature focused more on her accomplishments, what drives her, and what it was like to be so transformative in two leagues in just one year: women’s college basketball and the WNBA. No need to refit those old storylines and add more gas to the fire. It’s fine to let them expire.
As I read the piece, I took notes and highlighted the key quotes that I found interesting and/or new.
Highlights + Takeaways
I like the header photo to the story a lot more than I do the photo they used for the announcement (as seen above). Because she’s an elite businesswoman, already, at just 22 years old. Endorsement deals worth millions and she truly is a brand. Companies are pitching her left and right to work together.
It opens with a scene from the practice gym where Clark hit 93 3-pointers (at an 85% clip) in six minutes. It reminds me of rebounding for Tamika Catchings, as I did for thousands and thousands of shots. A lot of makes.
On constantly being discussed and debated: “I tell people I feel like the most controversial person. But I am not. It’s just because of all the storylines that surround me. I literally try to live and treat everybody in the same exact respectful, kind way. It just confuses me at times.”