The Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was an annual award honoring the achievements of an athlete from the world of

action sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

. It was first awarded as part of the

ESPY Awards An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

in the 2002 ceremony. The Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award trophy, created by sculptor

Lawrence Nowlan Lawrence Joseph Nowlan Jr. (January 11, 1965 – July 30, 2013) was an American sculptor and figurative artist known for his statues of notable individuals, including Harry Kalas and Jackie Gleason. Nowlan also designed memorials, including the f ...

, was presented to the action sports athlete adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year. Balloting for the award was undertaken by a panel of experts who composed 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 July and reflect performance from the June previous. The inaugural winner of the Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was American snowboarder

Kelly Clark Kelly Clark (born July 26, 1983) is an American snowboarder who won halfpipe gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Clark was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She started snowboarding when she was 7 years old, began competing in 1999, and became a me ...

at the 2002 edition. During 2001 and 2002, she won seven major worldwide snowboarding competitions, which included the gold medal in the women's halfpipe at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, and first place at the Winter X Games. Clark became the first female snowboarder to be nominated for, and hence to win, an ESPY Award. Americans won both times the accolade was given out with fellow snowboarder

Shaun White Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986) is an American former professional snowboarder and skateboarder. He is a five-time Olympian and a three-time Olympic gold medalist in half-pipe snowboarding. He holds the world record for the most X G ...

being voted the only male winner of the award at the 2003 ceremony. The Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was by gender in 2004, since which year Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award and the

Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award The Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a male athlete from the world of action sports. It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2004 after the non-gender-specific Best Action Spo ...

have been presented.

Winners and nominees

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Best Action Sports Athlete Espy Award ESPY Awards Awards established in 2002 Awards disestablished in 2003 2002 establishments in the United States

Winners and nominees

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links