BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year

The BBC World Sport Star of the Year (formerly known as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year^[1][2]) is an award presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. The award is presented to a non-British sportsperson considered to have made the most substantial contribution to a sport in that year.

BBC World Sport Star of the Year
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Formerly called	BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year
First award	1960; 65 years ago (1960)
Most recent winner	Armand Duplantis (2024)
Website	https://www.bbc.com/sport/sports-personality

History

The Overseas Personality award was first presented in 1960, six years after the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award was introduced. The first recipient of the award was Australian middle distance runner Herb Elliott.^[3] Since then, the award has been presented to 53 sportspersons. Swiss tennis player Roger Federer has won the award four times. American boxer Muhammad Ali and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt have both won the award three times.^[4] The award has been shared on three occasions—by Ron Clarke and Gary Player in 1965, Eusébio and Garfield Sobers in 1966, and Evander Holyfield and Michael Johnson in 1996.^[5] The husband-and-wife skating duo of Oleg Protopopov and Ludmila Belousova are the only pair to have won the award, doing so in 1968.^[6] Belousova was the first woman to become Overseas Personality—she was also the oldest, aged 33. George Moore is the oldest recipient of the award, winning in 1967 aged 44. The youngest recipient of the award is Nadia Comăneci, who won in 1976 at age 15. Boris Becker, who was 18 when he won in 1985, is the youngest male to have won.^[5]

Twenty-seven countries have been represented by the award winners as of 2024. United States sportspersons have won the award the most times, having had nineteen recipients, two of whom shared the award. Another US-born sportsperson received the award while representing Sweden. Three cricketers have received the award -- Garfield Sobers of Barbados, Brian Lara of Trinidad and Tobago (both of whom played for the West Indies cricket team), and Shane Warne of Australia.^[7][8] Fourteen sporting disciplines have been represented; tennis has the highest representation, with fifteen recipients.

Only one winner has ever been stripped of the award – US cyclist Lance Armstrong, whose 2003 award was rescinded following the UCI's 2012 decision to strip him of his titles and ban him for life from the sport.^[9]

In 2018, the award was renamed BBC World Sport Star of the Year. Along with the change of name, votes could be cast from outside of the UK for the first time.^[2]

Nomination procedure

The award was decided by a panel of over 30 sporting journalists. Each panellist voted for their top two choices; their first preference was awarded two points, and their second preference was awarded one point. The winning sportsperson had the most total points. In the case of a points tie, the sportsperson chosen as first preference by the most panellists is the winner. If this is also a tie the award is shared.^[10] In 2015 the public voted for this award.

Winners

By year

•  †  Denotes joint winners.
•  ‡  Denotes a winning couple.

Roger Federer received the award a record four times

Herb Elliott, the first recipient

Pelé received the award in 1970 after winning a record third FIFA World Cup

Muhammad Ali (top) and Usain Bolt (bottom) received the award three times.

Greg Norman received the award two times

Oleg Protopopov and Ludmila Belousova, joint recipients of the award in 1968, are also husband and wife.

Evander Holyfield, who shared the award with Michael Johnson in 1996

Mixed martial artist Khabib Nurmagomedov won the award in 2020

Armand Duplantis is the latest winner of this award (2024).

BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year winners

Year	Nationality	Winner	Sport	Note
1960	Australia	Herb Elliott	Athletics	[6]
1961	Soviet Union	Valeriy Brumel	Athletics	[6]
1962	Canada	Donald Jackson	Figure skating	[6]
1963	France	Jacques Anquetil	Cycling	[6]
1964	Ethiopia	Abebe Bikila	Athletics	[6]
1965	Australia	Ron Clarke †	Athletics	[11]
	South Africa	Gary Player †	Golf	[11]
1966	Portugal	Eusébio †	Football	[11]
	Barbados	Garfield Sobers †	Cricket	[11]
1967	Australia	George Moore	Horse racing	[6]
1968	Soviet Union	Oleg Protopopov ‡	Figure skating	[6]
	Soviet Union	Ludmila Belousova ‡	Figure skating	[6]
1969	Australia	Rod Laver	Tennis	[12]
1970	Brazil	Pelé	Football	[6]
1971	United States	Lee Trevino	Golf	[13]
1972	Soviet Union	Olga Korbut	Gymnastics	[14]
1973	United States	Muhammad Ali (1/3)	Boxing	[3]
1974	United States	Muhammad Ali (2/3)	Boxing	[3]
1975	United States	Arthur Ashe	Tennis	[15]
1976	Romania	Nadia Comăneci	Gymnastics	[16]
1977	Austria	Niki Lauda	Formula One	[17]
1978	United States	Muhammad Ali (3/3)	Boxing	[3]
1979	Sweden	Björn Borg	Tennis	[18]
1980	United States	Jack Nicklaus	Golf	[19]
1981	United States	Chris Evert	Tennis	[20]
1982	United States	Jimmy Connors	Tennis	[21]
1983	United States	Carl Lewis	Athletics	[22]
1984	Spain	Seve Ballesteros	Golf	[23]
1985	West Germany	Boris Becker	Tennis	[11]
1986	Australia	Greg Norman (1/2)	Golf	[24]
1987	United States	Martina Navratilova	Tennis	[25]
1988	West Germany	Steffi Graf	Tennis	[26]
1989	United States	Mike Tyson	Boxing	[27]
1990	Australia	Mal Meninga	Rugby league	[6]
1991	United States	Mike Powell	Athletics	[6]
1992	United States	Andre Agassi	Tennis	[28]
1993	Australia	Greg Norman (2/2)	Golf	[29]
1994	Trinidad and Tobago	Brian Lara	Cricket	[30]
1995	New Zealand	Jonah Lomu	Rugby union	[31]
1996	United States	Evander Holyfield †	Boxing	[32]
	United States	Michael Johnson	Athletics	[32]
1997	Switzerland	Martina Hingis	Tennis	[33]
1998	United States	Mark O'Meara	Golf	[34]
1999	United States	Maurice Greene	Athletics	[35]
2000	United States	Tiger Woods	Golf	[36]
2001	Croatia	Goran Ivanišević	Tennis	[37]
2002	Brazil	Ronaldo	Football	[38]
2003	United States	Lance Armstrong	Cycling	[39]
2004	Switzerland	Roger Federer (1/4)	Tennis	[40]
2005	Australia	Shane Warne	Cricket	[41]
2006	Switzerland	Roger Federer (2/4)	Tennis	[42]
2007	Switzerland	Roger Federer (3/4)	Tennis	[43]
2008	Jamaica	Usain Bolt (1/3)	Athletics	[44]
2009	Jamaica	Usain Bolt (2/3)	Athletics	[45]
2010	Spain	Rafael Nadal	Tennis	[46]
2011	Serbia	Novak Djokovic	Tennis	[47]
2012	Jamaica	Usain Bolt (3/3)	Athletics	[48]
2013	Germany	Sebastian Vettel	Formula One	[49]
2014	Portugal	Cristiano Ronaldo	Football	[50]
2015	New Zealand	Dan Carter	Rugby union	[51]
2016	United States	Simone Biles	Gymnastics	[52]
2017	Switzerland	Roger Federer (4/4)	Tennis	[53]
2018	Italy	Francesco Molinari	Golf	[54]
2019	Kenya	Eliud Kipchoge	Athletics	[55]
2020	Russia	Khabib Nurmagomedov	Mixed martial arts	[56]
2021	Ireland	Rachael Blackmore	Horse racing	[57]
2022	Argentina	Lionel Messi	Football	[58]
2023	Norway	Erling Haaland	Football	[59]
2024	Sweden	Armand Duplantis	Athletics	[60]

By nationality

This table lists the total number of awards won by place of birth.

Nationality	Number of wins[a]
United States	19[a]
Australia	8
Soviet Union	5[b]
Switzerland	4
Germany	3
Jamaica	3
Brazil	2
Czechoslovakia	2[c]
New Zealand	2
Portugal	2[d]
Spain	2
Yugoslavia	2[e]
Argentina	1
Austria	1
Barbados	1
Canada	1
Ethiopia	1
France	1
Ireland	1
Italy	1
Kenya	1
Romania	1
South Africa	1
Sweden	1
Trinidad and Tobago	1
United Kingdom	1[f]

1. 2024 recipient Armand Duplantis was born in the United States to an American father and Swedish mother. He holds citizenship in both countries and represents Sweden.
2. Of the recipients born in the Soviet Union:

   • 1961 recipient Valeriy Brumel, and 1968 recipients Oleg Protopopov and Ludmila Belousova, were born in what is now Russia, and represented the Soviet Union.
   • 1972 recipient Olga Korbut was born in what is now Belarus, and also represented the Soviet Union.
   • 2020 recipient Khabib Nurmagomedov was born in what is now Russia. He became a citizen of Russia upon the collapse of the Soviet Union during his early childhood.
3. Of the recipients born in the former Czechoslovakia:

   • 1987 recipient Martina Navratilova was born in what is now the Czech Republic. She fled to the US at age 18, and held only United States citizenship at the time of her award.
   • 1997 recipient Martina Hingis was born in what is now Slovakia. She moved to Switzerland at age 7.
4. One of Portugal's recipients, 1966 co-winner Eusébio, was born in Mozambique while it was still a Portuguese colony. He moved to mainland Portugal in his childhood.
5. Of the recipients born in the former Yugoslavia:

   • 2001 recipient Goran Ivanišević was born in what is now Croatia, and became a Croatian citizen upon the country's independence from Yugoslavia.
   • 2011 recipient Novak Djokovic was born in what is now Serbia, which became a completely separate country in the years after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
6. 2023 recipient Erling Haaland was born in the United Kingdom, where his Norwegian father was playing professional football. He holds citizenship in both countries and represents Norway.

By sport

This table lists the total number of awards won by recipient's sporting profession.

Sporting profession	Number of wins[a]
Tennis	17
Athletics	12
Golf	9
Football	6
Boxing	5
Cricket	3
Figure skating	3
Gymnastics	3
Formula One	2
Horse racing	2
Rugby union	2
Cycling	1 2
Rugby league	1
Mixed martial arts	1

By gender

This table lists the total number of awards won by gender.

Gender	Number of wins[a]
Male	51.5
Female	8.5

Note

• ^{a1 a2} The fractions refer to occasions on which the awarded was shared between more than one person.

See also

• Athlete of the Year
• Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year (Laureus World Sports Academy)
• Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year
• L'Équipe Champion of Champions