In a glittering career, the 29-year-old won the individual sabre title at both the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and has now won a total of 12 World Championships medals, including four golden ones, over a 10 year period. 

Zagunis, who is of Lithuanian heritage but the daughter of parents who both competed for the US rowing team at Montreal 1976, proved that she remains among the best in the business by following up a narrow loss to Ukrainian rival Olga Kharlan in the individual event with a key role in propelling the US to the team title.

The team, also consisting of Ibtihaj Muhammad, Anne-Elizabeth Stone and Dagmara Wozniak, defeated France in the final to win gold for the first time since 2005.

This was enough to see her finish clear of triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, who has won the last two races on the International Triathlon Union World Series, and softball player Valerie Arioto, to win the monthly USOC award, which is selected by a panel of voters following nominations by each National Federation.

Online fan voting via Twitter also accounts for 10 per cent of the total vote.

In a further reflection of the growing influence of Paralympic sport in the US, the women's goalball squad was awarded the USOC team award following their victory at the International Blind Sports Federation World Goalball Championships, held from June 30 to July 5 in Espoo, Finland.

After defeating Russia in the final they not only secured a qualification berth for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, they became the only women's team to medal in all four editions of the Championships. 

The US women's goalball team, pictured in action at London 2012, received the USOC team award ©Getty Images



The men's junior 4x100 metrec relay squad finished second following their gold medal at the World Championships in Eugene, in the third fastest time in the history of the event, while the women's under-17 national basketball team came third after winning a third successive World Championship title.

Kendal Williams, who ran the third leg for the relay team, was also awarded the Male Athlete of the Month award following his 100m victory at the same Championships earlier in the week.

He won gold in a personal best time of 10.21sec to finish ahead of compatriot Trayvon Bromell.

In second place was Para-cyclist Will Groulx, a three-time Paralympic medallist in wheelchair rugby, who after switching sports was crowned the overall World Cup champion for the men's H2 class, after time trial and road race victories at the final event of the year in Segovia, Spain.

Trampoline gymnast Jeffrey Gluckstein placed third after an array of strong performances at the US Championships in Louisville. 

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