Williams (Miami, Fla.), the 2004 Olympic 100m silver medalist, won the gold medal in the 100m, the first women's medal for Team USA at the 2005 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Williams burst out of the blocks despite a rain-soaked track and grabbed an early lead, clocking in at 10.93 seconds. Williams defeated 2004 Olympic 200m gold medalist and 100m bronze medalist Veronica Campbell of Jamaica, who finished second in 10.95.

Gatlin (Raleigh, N.C.) won the 100m and 200m titles at the 2005 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Gatlin ran 9.88 seconds and 20.04 seconds to become the first man to win both the 100m and 200m, respectively, at the event since Maurice Greene in 1999. Gatlin's winning margin of .17 seconds in the 100m was the largest in meet history. Later in the month, Gatlin continued his winning ways with a convincing victory in the men's 100m in 10.14 seconds at the Weltklasse Golden League meet in Zurich, Switzerland. Gatlin extended his domination of the 100m event with a win in 9.99 seconds at the Memorial Van Damme IAAF Golden League meet in Brussels, Belgium.

Badminton duo Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif.) and Tony Gunawan (Fullerton, Calif.) earned the first-ever U.S. world title at the 2005 IBF World Championships Aug. 21 in Anaheim, Calif. The 13th-seeded American men's doubles team defeated the second-seeded Indonesian duo of Candra Wijay and Sigit Budiarto, 15-11, 10-15, 15-11, in the finals. Bach and Gunawan were down 11-9 in the final game before making a comeback and outscoring their opponents 6-2 to secure the win. The pair boasted victories over the eighth-, first-, fourth- and second-ranked teams in the world on successive nights to claim the title.

Second place among the women nominated went to swimmer Maritza Correia. Correia (Valrico, Fla.) won four gold medals at the 2005 World University Games Aug. 12-17 in Izmir, Turkey. In the 400m freestyle relay, her team-best split of 55.71 helped the U.S. set a new Universiade record in the event, clocking in at 3:43.97. Two days later, Correia swam prelims in the 800m freestyle relay to put the American women in good position to secure their second relay gold of the week.  As anchor of the 400m medley relay squad, Correia again swam a fast split, collecting another gold medal and an American sweep of the women's relay events for the first time since 1995. Correia claimed an individual gold in the 50m freestyle event, out-touching the second-place finisher by three-hundredths of a second to win in 25.38.

Volleyball's Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa) placed third in the women's vote after earning the Most Valuable Player award at the FIVB Women's World Championship Qualification Tournament Aug. 19 in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Metcalf led the U.S. women to the gold medal with a 25-16, 25-13, 25-18 victory over Puerto Rico.  In addition, Metcalf dominated all players in the tournament with 86 total points on 71 kills, 11 blocks and four aces in six matches, receiving "Best Scorer" accolades as well.  Metcalf finished fourth overall in blocks per set as Team USA posted a perfect 6-0 record at the event and dropped just one set along the way. By finishing first, the U.S. women earned a trip to the 2006 World Championships in Japan.

Second place in the men's ballot went to swimmer Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga.). Shanteau became the first American to sweep the individual medley events at the World University Games. At Izmir, Shanteau captured the gold in both the 200m and 400m IM, setting a Universiade record in the 200m IM by clocking in at 2:00.13. In the 400m IM, Shanteau came from behind in the breaststroke leg to beat out Hungary's Peter Nagy by nearly a second-and-a-half.
Wrestler Jesse Jantzen (Brookline, Mass.) finished third in the vote for male athletes. Jantzen won the title in the 66 kg/145.5 lbs. weight class after dominating Kelaxsaev Berding of Russia in the gold-medal finals at the 2005 World University Games Aug. 13 in Izmir. Jantzen became only the third U.S. wrestler in history to win a gold medal at the Universiade. In the first period, Jantzen scored two takedowns for a 2-0 lead. He then padded his advantage with a two-point turn. In the second period, Jantzen again scored two takedowns, both in the first half of the period. Jantzen did not lose a single period in this year's World University Games and shut out his opponents in seven of the 10 periods overall.

Second place in the team vote went to the Men's National Volleyball Team, which captured two gold medals in two events during the month of August.  Team USA stunned the world's number-one team and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Brazil in five sets to capture the gold medal at the America's Cup Aug. 7 in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil. The Americans finished the tournament with a record of 3-1 after posting wins over Cuba, Argentina and Brazil, following an opening five-set loss to Canada.  Later in the month, the U.S. men were perfect en route to earning the gold medal at the FIVB World Championship Qualifying Tournament Aug. 28 in Caguas, Puerto Rico.  The team defeated Puerto Rico in the final match to finish the tournament with a 6-0 record while not losing a single set along the way. With the win, Team USA earned a trip to the 2006 World Championships in Japan.

Placing third on the ballot was the U.S. Elite Water Ski Team. Team USA won its third consecutive world team title at the 2005 Water Ski World Championships Aug. 16-21 in Tianjin, China. More than 140 athletes from 27 countries competed for world titles in slalom, tricks, jumping and overall, in addition to the world team title. U.S. squad members earned a total of seven individual medals at the six-day biennial event. The USA tallied 8,609.73 points in a convincing gold-medal win in the overall team event over runner-up France.

Results (first place votes in parentheses)

WOMEN
1. Lauryn Williams, Track & Field, 27 (6)
2. Maritza Correia, Swimming, 20 (5)
3. Nancy Metcalf, Volleyball, 15 (1)
Also receiving first place votes: Lynda Barnes (Bowling), Sylvia Fowles (Basketball), Kayla Harrison (Judo) and Nastia Liukin (Gymnastics).

MEN
1. Justin Gatlin, Track & Field, 29 (9)
2. Eric Shanteau, Swimming, 13 (2)
3. Jesse Jantzen, Wrestling, 12 (0)
Also receiving first place votes: Bobby Lee (Judo), Jimmy Siemers (Water Skiing), Todd Thornton (Gymnastics) and Shelden Williams (Basketball).

TEAM
1. Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan, Badminton, 34 (9)
2. Men's National Volleyball Team, 32 (5)
3. U.S. Elite Water Ski Team, 13 (2)
Also receiving first place votes: Club Wolverine (Swimming).