Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev was voted the best Esport athlete of 2021 at The Game Awards 2021. The best Esport Athlete category saw five top Esports athletes, including professional Valorant player Tyson "Tenz" Ngo and pro Call of Duty player Chris "Simp" Lehr, try to gain the most votes. Votes were cast by fans and the winner of the was judged to have the best performance and conduct for year, independent of their games and genres. The award was announced in what was one of gaming's most-watched shows of the year.
S1mple, 24, currently plays for the Ukrainian CS:GO team Natus Vincere(NAVI), who recently won the PGL Major Stockholm at the start of November, claiming half of the $1million prize pool. S1mple began playing CS:GO professionally in 2014, where his raw talent was already catching the eyes of established professional players. Seven years later, s1mple is now regarded by most in the CS:GO scene as being the greatest to ever play Global Offensive.
S1mple's performances the last two years have made him the best in the CS:GO scene, but his achievements in 2021 made him one of The Game Awards predicted most likely winners. With s1mple leading the way, NAVI won a staggering seven events in 2021, four of them Online and three on LAN. Across these tournaments, s1mple was voted the most valuable player six times, including MVPs in the prestigious IEM Cologne tournament and the Stockholm major, bringing his career MVP total to 18. Three of NAVI's 2021 wins also saw them claim the Intel Grand Slam Season 3 prize, awarded to a team that wins four S-Tier events organized by ESL or DreamHack Masters during a window of 10 consecutive events, earning the players another $1million.
S1mple's Unbelievable CSGO Stats Show That He Is The Best
There are a lot of very good teams and players in professional CSGO currently, but s1mple is the at the top, and likely the biggest reason NAVI is such a juggernaut. Over 2021, s1mple has the highest HLTV.org 2.0 rating of any player at 1.35. With 183 maps played, and nearly 5,000 individual rounds, s1mple has a kill-to-death difference of +1365. These are some of the best stats ever posted in Global Offensive's history, and when put into the context that s1mple is constantly playing against the best teams in the world in CS:GO's major in-person events, this consistent showcase of skill is noteworthy.
S1mple could easily have won Best Esports Athlete due to stats alone, but his conduct over the last two years has seen him become a true ambassador of CS:GO and an inspiration to many. In the early days of his career, s1mple was regarded by many professionals as a toxic personality. In 2015, he was removed from the team Hellraisers after making inflammatory comments towards Germans, and was banned from ESL tournaments for a time due to having a game ban in CS:GO. Now in 2021, S1mple is the spiritual leader of the seemingly unstoppable NAVI team. He routinely appears for stage interviews and shows great leadership and sportsmanship qualities at event.
S1mple's performances in 2021 made him an easy choice to be voted Best Esports Athlete, and if he continues his form he could be in for a repeat. CS:GO experienced a decline in players during 2019, and the professional scene suffered too due to coronavirus. With the PGL Major being a success and breaking viewership records, CS:GO could continue its resurgence into 2022, and if s1mple continues to dominate events, he could end up topping the votes at The Game Awards once again.