Stacey Porter: Australian softball super star nominated for World Games Athlete of the Year

Stacey Porter: Australian softball super star nominated for World Games Athlete of the Year
08/01/2020
Australia's most capped softball player has represented her country in softball at two Olympic Games - finishing second in 2004 and third in 2008. This year she captained Australia to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualification by winning the WBSC Softball Asia/Oceania Qualifier.

Australia softball legend Stacey Porter is one of 25 candidates nominated for the World Games Athlete of the Year 2019 award, with voting having opened on Wednesday.

Porter captained the Australian team that went unbeaten in claiming the WBSC Softball Asia/Oceania Qualifier to clinch a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and The World Games Birmingham 2021. The 37-year-old veteran hit .500 along the tournament, with 3 doubles, 5 runs and 6 RBI.

“It’s such an honour to be nominated by the WBSC for this award, thanks to them for recognizing the great year of softball we had in Australia in 2019,” said Porter who is currently playing for the New South Wales Firestars in the Australian National Championships. “I feel very humbled to be representing softball amongst such a talented group of athletes from other sports.”

The infielder has put together a terrific career over 17 years with the Australia’s national team. She was an integral member of the 2004 Olympic team in Athens, helping Australia to win a silver medal. Recognised as one of the best batters in the world, Porter then won a bronze medal with the Australian team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. 

In 2019, she became the most capped Australian softball player in history, donning the green and gold for over 430 games.

This is the sixth time that the International World Games Association (IWGA) is running the the Athlete of the Year vote. The award honours an athlete or a team for their outstanding performance in 2019, or for their social commitment or particularly fair behaviour.

Voting began at 09:00 CET on the 8th of January and ends at 15:00 CET on Thursday, 30th January 2020. As per previous years, there will be a fixed date (20th January), after which only the 10 candidates with the most votes will continue in the race.

You can vote here for your World Games Athlete of the Year.

A total of 3,600 athletes from across the globe will participate in 32 sports at The World Games Birmingham 2021, to be held from 15-25 July. Women’s Softball will be part of the programme for the fourth time, after being played in Santa Clara 1981, London 1985 and Cali 2013.

USA won the gold medal in 1981 and 1985, while Cuba won the competition in 2013. Canada, Chinese Taipei and Venezuela won silver medals in the three previous competitions, while the Bahamas, the Netherlands and Colombia completed the podiums.