Katie Austin Takes You Behind the Scenes at the 2022 SI Sportsperson of the Year Awards

The SI Swimsuit model only had a few hours to travel to the event and be red carpet ready.

Last Thursday, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Awards.

On the day of the event, I caught a flight just hours before it started! I was in Los Angeles at 3 p.m. and had to be on the red carpet at 6, so I boarded the plane to San Francisco with full hair and makeup on, ready to go when I landed with so much excitement.

It was a night to remember celebrating such talented athletes. You could feel everyone was so happy to be involved with the event. Plus for me, it was two of my worlds colliding!

Not only was I able to attend as one of the 2022 SI Swimsuit rookies of the year, but also to celebrate an award winner and his team that in particular holds a place near and dear to my heart.

My dad has been an NBA agent for decades,and currently represents Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, the night’s big winner. I grew up watching basketball every night during the season with my dad and even went on to host segments for the NBA after college for a little bit. Fun fact: my dad represented Steph’s dad, Dell Curry, too! So we have a huge loyalty to their amazing family.

Since it was a night gala, I decided to go with a smoky eye makeup look and a one-shoulder black dress, with just a touch of lace. I thought this dress was the perfect level of simplicity yet unique, and perfect for a winter event.

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What is the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Award you might ask? Well, since its inception in 1954, this is an honor that Sports Illustrated presents every year to the “athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement.” And you might recognize some of the preview honorees like Tom Brady, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Naomi Osaka, Megan Rapinoe, and so many more!

One of my favorite highlights of the night was being able to listen to Allyson Felix speak about women’s rights, advocating to Nike to exercise fairness in the way they treat women in the workplace when they are pregnant. She has made a huge impact for women athletes.

And of course, being able to be there to witness by Steph’s acceptance speech really hit home for me. He said that for his success story, “everyone sees the highlights, sees the winning championship, but it’s all in the journey, it’s hard work…. If you want to understand success, you can’t focus on what’s visible.. it’s a long chain of steps that lead to that moment.”

It’s so true. We focus so much on the end goal, meanwhile, the journey is the best part. It’s about small steps to get to where you want to be and enjoying the present moment of where you’re at. It’s not always glamorous—it takes constant hard work behind the scenes.

We ended the night celebrating, dancing with my Sports Illustrated family and dinner with my dad’s team. Truly, it was such an amazing night celebrating and honoring these athletes and talent who deserve every ounce of recognition for their hard work!

About the Series

Tune in every week and get tips to feel your best from Katie Austin herself. "I am beyond excited to announce the official launch of my weekly column in SI Swim, Katie’s Column. For those who don’t know me, I’m a fitness personality, creator of my own workout app (check it out here!) and host of my newly released Snapchat Originals and YouTube show called Healthy Hacks!! On top of that, I’m a 2022 SI Swim ROOKIEEEEE!!!!" says Austin.