The 2021 ESPY Awards were the 29th annual ceremony of the

ESPY Award The ESPY Awards (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, and often referred to as the ESPYs) is an annual American awards show produced by ESPN since 1993, recognizing individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-r ...

, held on July 10, 2021 at The Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City and broadcast on ABC. Actor

Anthony Mackie Anthony Dwane Mackie (born September 23, 1978) is an American actor. He gained wide recognition for portraying Sam Wilson / Falcon / Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with the film '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier ...

served as the host. The awards aired on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

on July 11, and a two-hour version aired on ESPN July 13.

Format

After the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

made the 2020 ESPYs a virtual taped event, it was a live in-person show with many of the winners showing up to accept their awards. The ESPYs brought back many of the categories from 2019; however, Best Upset, Best Esports Moment and Best Viral Moment were not awarded. Several categories were renamed and/or changed in scope: * Best Male Athlete and Best Female Athlete are now Best Athlete, Men's Sports and Best Athlete, Women's Sports, respectively. * The Best Male and Female College Athlete awards, last presented in 2017, were reinstated and respectively renamed Best College Athlete, Men's Sports and Best College Athlete, Women's Sports. * The Best International Soccer Player awards for men and women, previously presented to soccer players who were either born outside the U.S. or were not U.S. citizens, were renamed Best International Athlete, Men's Soccer and Best International Athlete, Women's Soccer. In addition, these awards are now presented to individuals who play at club level in leagues outside of the U.S. soccer pyramid, regardless of the players' nationalities.

Winners and nominees

# Best Play and Best WWE Moment were in an elimination format with 16 entrants at the beginning. # Best MLB Player voting was halted, mainly due to allegations of sexual assault by Trevor Bauer.

Honorary Awards

;

Jimmy V Award The Jimmy V Award (sometimes called the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance) is awarded as part of the ESPY Awards to "a deserving member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination". The award is na ...

Chris Nikic Chris Nikic (born October 6, 1999) is an American amateur Triathlon, triathlete. In 2020, at age 21, he became the first person with Down syndrome to finish an Ironman triathlon. For this accomplishment, Nikic was awarded the Jimmy V Award, Jim ...

, triathlon ; Arthur Ashe Courage Award *

Maya Moore Maya April Moore (born June 11, 1989) is an American social justice advocate and former professional basketball player. Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, ''Sports Illustrated'' called Moore the "greatest winner in the hist ...

;Pat Tillman Award for Service *

Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa, on Loan (association football), lo ...

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...

; Best Coach * Tara VanDerveer,

Stanford Cardinal women's basketball The Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team represents Stanford University, located in Stanford, California. The school's team currently competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cardinal are led by head coach Kate Paye, who previously s ...

head coach ;Best Championship Moment *Los Angeles Dodgers win

2020 World Series The 2020 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 2020 season. The 116th World Series was a best-of-seven-playoff between the American League (AL) champion Tampa Bay Rays and the National League (NL) champion Los An ...

;Best Championship Performance *Simone Biles - gymnastics

References

External links

ESPN: Serving sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere. – ESPN
{{ESPYs

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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