NEW YORK, October 21, 2002 – The Women’s Sports Foundation today named WNBA All-Star Sue Bird and Olympic gold medal winner Sarah Hughes the 2002 Sportswomen of the Year. The award recognizes individual and team sport athletes for their achievements from August 2001 through July 2002 and will be presented at the Foundation’s 23rd Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner tonight at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

Sue Bird accepts her award. Jennifer Pottheiser/WNBAE/Getty Images

Sue Bird, who will receive the Sportswoman of the Year Team Award, averaged 14.4 points per game and 6.0 assists during her rookie season with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. As the 2002 No.1 WNBA draft pick, Bird’s outstanding season performance earned her a starting spot on the Western Conference team at the 2002 WNBA All-Star Game. Being named a WNBA All-Star was the first honor Bird received in the professional league; however, she is no stranger to recognition for her outstanding play.

A member of the 2002 NCAA Division I National Championship UCONN Huskies team, Bird finished her college career as one of two UCONN players to accumulate more than 1,000 points, 500 assists, and 200 steals in a career. Bird, starting all 39 regular-season games in her senior year, produced a senior year of career highs while leading the Huskies to an undefeated season. She led the Huskies in points 12 times, assists 25 times, and steals 19 times. Following her outstanding championship season, Bird was named Kodak All-American, Associated Press First-Team All-American, 2002 NCAA Final Four All-Tournament, Big East Player of the Year, First-Team All-Big East and to the Big East All-Tournament Team. In addition, Bird won the prestigious 2002 Wade Trophy, the 2002 Associated Press and Naismith Player of the Year, the 2002 Honda Award for Women’s Basketball and the first annual Senior CLASS Award presented to the nation’s most outstanding senior basketball player.

“What an honor to receive this award and be placed on the same level as Lisa Leslie [last year’s winner] and other outstanding female athletes,” said Bird. “This is a great way to end my first year in the professional league.”

Sarah Hughes, the recipient of this year’s individual award, caught the attention of the world as she skated a flawless free-spirited long program at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. With that performance, Hughes became the seventh U.S. woman to claim the Olympic gold medal in figure skating, and the first person to rebound from fourth place to capture gold at the Olympics since the short program free skate was introduced. Her performance was one of the most technically demanding ever attempted in Olympic ladies competition, including two clean triple-triple combinations.

Born and raised in Great Neck, New York, Hughes, at the age of 16, was the fourth youngest Olympic woman figure skating champion of all time and the first U.S. figure skater to win the Olympic gold without ever having been a U.S. champion on the senior level. Following her Olympic triumph, Hughes received the Presidential Award for Economic Excellence and was nominated for five ESPY Awards, winning the first-ever ESPY Award for Best U.S. Olympian.

“I am so honored to be receiving an award that has been won by so many legendary athletes,” said Hughes. “I feel so proud to be in their company and to be recognized by an organization that does such wonderful things for girls in sports.”

The Sportswoman of the Year Award was originally awarded to a professional athlete and an amateur athlete until it was modified in 1993 to honor one outstanding female athlete who competes in an individual sport and one who plays a team sport. Olympic gold medallist pole-vaulter Stacy Dragila and WNBA star Lisa Leslie were the 2001 award winners in the individual and team sport categories, respectively.

Along with the Sportswomen of the Year honors, the Women’s Sports Foundation is announcing four new inductees into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame, as well as the recipients of the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award and the Billie Jean King Contribution Award.

Cross-country skier Candace Cable, the recipient of the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award, is a nine-time Paralympic gold medalist and two-time Olympic bronze medalist. Cable now spends her time giving back by teaching other athletes with disabilities how to cross-country ski. The Billie Jean King Contribution Award is being presented to Joseph Frederick Cullman 3rd. Cullman has been instrumental in the establishment and growth of women’s tennis and he is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

The four outstanding female athletes entering the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame are Betty Cuthbert, winner of two gold medals in the track and field event at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games; Jayne Torvill, Olympic gold medal winner at the 1984 Olympic Games in the sport of ice dancing; Valerie Brisco, the second woman to capture three track and field gold medals in one Olympiad; and Nikki Tomlinson Franke, the first African-American female fencing coach in the history of collegiate fencing, and the only African-American woman to coach an NCAA Division I fencing team.

The Women’s Sports Foundation’s awards dinner is being co-presented by General Motors and ESPN for the second consecutive year. With their support and the participation of over 80 champion female athletes, the gala is expected to raise close to $1 million for grassroots programming for girls’ sports.