2004 Olympic women's marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor has been nominated for the USAToday.com and United States Sports Academy 2005 Athlete of the Year Award.

Kastor built up a sizeable lead and managed to hold on to win the 2005 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 25 seconds. Kastor's victory was the first major marathon win for an American in 11 years.

In a September tune-up leading up to the Chicago Marathon, Kastor set an American record at the Philly Distance Classic Half-Marathon with her win in 1 hour, 7 minutes, 53 seconds.

In addition to Kastor, this year's female ballot includes Kim Clijsters, Natalie Coughlin, Tirunesh Dibaba, Yolanda Griffith, Gao Jun, Nastia Liukin, Danica Patrick, Paula Radcliffe, Irina Slutskaya, Annika Sorenstam, Venus Williams and Yelena Isinbayeva.

The 2005 male ballot includes Lance Armstrong, Tom Brady, Reggie Bush, Tim Duncan, Jermaine Dye, Roger Federer, Matt Leinart, Peyton Manning, Bode Miller, Asafa Powell, Aaron Peirsol, Tony Stewart and Tiger Woods.

Votes will be collected online from December 1-24. To submit your vote, please visit www.usatoday.com/sports/front.htm or www.ussa.edu/aoy/ index.asp.

The ballot, run in conjunction with USATODAY.com, attracts tens of thousands of votes from sports fans around the globe.

The male or female athlete receiving the most votes will be named the Academy's Athlete of the Year. Past winners include Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods. In addition to the overall winner, a Female Athlete of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year will also be selected.