Olympic champions Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin top the bill at the USA Swimming Foundation's Golden Goggles Awards in New York. 

Phelps scooped three awards. Those eight gold medals and seven world records in Beijing earned him Male Athlete of the Year award; the 100 'fly win, by 0.01sec over Milorad Cavic (SRB), was considered to be the Male Performance of the Year (the thrill and punching finish deemed better than the stunning quality of his world records in the 400m medley and 200m freestyle); while his role alongside Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones (the man who's suit maker turned its back on the pool because of the advantage gained by his star teammate's suit maker) and Jason Lezak, was awarded with the Relay Performance of the Year prize. "It’s been a fun year and hopefully there will be more to come," said Phelps. 

Coughlin was voted Female Athlete of the Year for her six medals in Beijing:  one gold, two silver and three bronze. USA swimming suggested that she was :the first woman in any sport, to win six medals in one Olympiad". We assume they mean American woman. This year, Coughlin broke the 100m backstroke world record three times and set 11 American records.

"This was a great year ... I’m really glad to have been a part of it," said Coughlin.

For the third year in a row, the Coach of the Year Golden Goggle award was presented to Bob Bowman, mentor to Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay, Erik Vendt and Allison Schmitt, among others. Bowman was the mastermind behind the greatest Olympic performance of all time. All of his Olympic athletes earned Olympic medals in the 4x200m free relays, while Vanderkaay took bronze in the 200m free. 

Rebecca Soni, Olympic 200m breaststroke champion in world-record time, claimed two prizes: the Breakout Performer of the Year Award and the Female Performance of the Year Award. She also claimed silver medals in the 100m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay in Beijing. 

Eric Shanteau claimed the Perseverance Award. He was diagnosed with cancer just weeks before the 2008 Olympic Trials and then qualified for the Olympic team in the 200m breaststroke. After the Games, Shanteau returned home and had surgery to remove the cancerous growth. He is now cancer-free.

Two special awards were also presented at the 2008 Golden Goggle Awards, the Athlete Humanitarian Award and the Impact Award. Both awards are presented in Olympic years only. The NCAA was the recipient of the Impact Award, an award given to the person or organisation that demonstrates an overwhelming support for the sport of swimming throughout the Olympic quadrennial. Dr. Myles Brand, the president of the NCAA, accepted the award on its behalf. Hopefully that message will get through to the folk at Rutgers and other colleges that are fast shutting down one of the nurturing pools of world swimming talent in their pursuit of the pro-sport dollar.

The Athlete Humanitarian Award was presented to Olympian Cullen Jones for his work to promote diversity in the sport of swimming through visits to Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs and YMCAs to promote water-safety. Jones serves as a national spokesman for Make a Splash, the national, child-focused water safety initiative of the USA Swimming Foundation. Since its launch in February of 2007, Make a Splash has touched 750,000 kids through free or low cost swim lessons or water safety education. Nike gave Jones $2 million to help with that development work. The bodysuit battle then saw a very big player indeed walk away from the water. 

The awards ceremony was attended by many a past champ, including Summer Sanders, Pablo Morales, Gary Hall Jr., Lenny Krayzelburg, Jenny Thompson, and Rowdy Gaines.

Gary Hall Jr is reported to have officially retired from swimming to focus on a campaigning area of life: he wants to expand his work helping those with diabetes lead long, productive lives. Hall, 34, is married and has two children who will doubtless be proud of what dad has done and what dad will do for others in the years ahead.