Christine Sinclair has won Canada's highest athletic prize.
The Lou Marsh Award has been voted on by the country's top traditional media members since the 1930s. The only criteria is that the athlete be Canadian and that he or she competed during the year.
Despite having the highest participatiuon rates in the country, soccer had never before produced the winner. Until today.
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Sinclair scored 23 times in 2012, including six goals at the Olympics. In London she won the Golden Boot and helped Canada capture an unexpected bronze medal.
However, it was her hat-trick against eventual gold medal winning USA that captured the imagination of the country. She was easily the most talked about female athlete in Canada during the latter half of the year and has finally become a household name across the nation.
She was the clear favourite prior to the vote.
To win the award, Sinclair beat out speedskater Christine Nesbitt, trampolinist and Olympic gold medallist Rosie MacLennan, figure skater Patrick Chan, cyclist Ryder Hesjedal and Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish.
Nesbit was a double gold medalist in the 1,000m and 1,500m long track events in 2012 and broke a World Record in the 1,000m. She was named the overall female long track champion.
MacLennan captured Canada's only gold medal of the London games.
Chan, the 2011 Lou marsh winner, won his second straight World Championship in March.
Hesjedal became the first Canadian to capture a major cycling championship when he won the Giro d'Italia.
Cornish rushed for 1,457 yards to break a 56-year record for rushing yards by a Canadian in the CFL.