BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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Only one winner has ever been stripped of the award – US cyclist Lance Armstrong, whose 2003 award was rescinded following the UCI's 2012 decision to strip him of his titles and ban him for life from the sport.

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.

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. In 2015 the public voted for this award.

Winners

By year

• Denotes joint winners.
• Denotes a winning couple.

By nationality

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

By sport

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

By gender

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

Note

• The fractions refer to occasions on which the awarded was shared between more than one person.

References

;General

;Specific

References

1. (11 December 2005). "Warne lands BBC Overseas accolade". BBC.
2. (2 October 2018). "BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2018: Nominees to be revealed live on the night". BBC.
3. (9 October 2008). "Sports Personality facts and figures". BBC.
4. (10 December 2007). "Joe Calzaghe named Sports Personality of the Year". [[Daily Post (Wales).
5. (11 November 2003). "50th Sports Personality of the Year: Facts and figures". BBC.
6. Mike Selvey. (10 April 2004). "Batting on". [[The Guardian]].
7. Martin Gough. (19 April 2007). "Legend Lara to end Windies career". BBC.
8. (18 December 2012). "BBC strip Lance Armstrong of award". [[Evening Standard]].
9. (18 November 2008). "Sports Personality voting & judging: Terms & conditions". BBC.
10. Scott-Elliot, Robin. (25 November 2000). "Protopopov and who?". BBC.
11. "50th Sports Personality of the Year". BBC.
12. (27 November 2003). "Past winners: 1968–1972: 1969 Winner". BBC.
13. (27 November 2003). "Past winners: 1968–1972: 1971 Winner". BBC.
14. Philip, Robert. (1 January 2009). "Comaneci's perfection". [[Mubadala Development Company]].
15. (27 November 2003). "Past winners: 1973–1977: 1975 Winner". BBC.
16. Dodd, Marc. (1 August 2008). "Top Five: Teenage Sensations". [[Metro (Associated Metro Limited).
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18. "Bjorn Borg returns to grass at Liverpool". [[Liverpool International Tennis Tournament.
19. (27 November 2003). "Past winners: 1978–1982: 1980 Winner". BBC.
20. (27 November 2003). "Past winners: 1978–1982: 1981 Winner". BBC.
21. (27 November 2003). "Past winners: 1978–1982: 1982 Winner". BBC.
22. (27 November 2003). "Past winners: 1983–1987: 1983 Winner". BBC.
23. (14 December 2008). "Sprinter Bolt wins Overseas award". BBC.
24. Philip, Robert. (5 December 2007). "Gary Lineker's dog days now a distant memory". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
25. (14 December 2003). "Navratilova given lifetime honour". BBC.
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29. (30 January 2006). "Norman to design The Wave Golf Course". Gulf Publishing and Printing Company.
30. Fraser, Angus. (9 June 2007). "Brian Lara: My favourite things". [[The Independent]].
31. Baker, Andrew. (17 December 1995). "Des takes charge of great leap backwards". [[The Independent]].
32. (16 December 1996). "Hill wins BBC award for second time". [[The Independent]].
33. "Past winners: 1994–98". BBC Sport.
34. (14 December 1998). "Owen nets BBC sports award". BBC.
35. Turnbull, Simon. (19 December 1999). "Lean Greene on a quest for Mo Gold". [[The Independent]].
36. Gray, Chris. (11 December 2000). "Redgrave voted Sports Personality of the Year". [[The Independent]].
37. Harris, Nick. (28 November 2005). "An email conversation with Goran Ivanisevic: 'Talking of Split, there are still three Gorans?'". [[The Independent]].
38. Moore, Glenn. (4 December 2008). "Ronaldo fights the flab and dodgy knees". [[The Independent]].
39. (17 December 2012). "Armstrong stripped of BBC prize". ESPN Star.com.
40. Rowbottom, Mike. (13 December 2004). "Sports Awards: Holmes wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year". [[The Independent]].
41. Culf, Andrew. (12 December 2005). "Ashes hero Flintoff voted Sports Personality of the Year". [[The Guardian]].
42. Corrigan, James. (11 December 2006). "Phillips is surprise winner of top Sports Personality award". [[The Independent]].
43. Bolton, Paul. (10 December 2007). "Calzaghe is BBC Sports Personality of the Year". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
44. Smith, Ed. (19 December 2008). "Usain Bolt and the paradox of sprinting evolution". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
45. (13 December 2009). "Sprinter Usain Bolt secures BBC Overseas award again". BBC.
46. (October 2017). "Rafael Nadal claims overseas prize }}{{dead link". Sporting Life.
47. (22 December 2011). "Sports Personality of the Year 2011: Novak Djokovic wins overseas award". BBC News.
48. (16 December 2012). "Usain Bolt wins BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year". BBC News.
49. (15 December 2013). "Sebastien Vettel wins Oversea Sports Personality award". ITV News.
50. (14 December 2014). "Cristiano Ronaldo wins BBC Overseas Sports Personality award". BBC Sport.
51. (19 December 2015). "Sports Personality of the Year: Dan Carter wins 2015 Overseas award". BBC Sport.
52. (18 December 2016). "BBC Sports Personality 2016: Simone Biles wins overseas award". BBC Sport.
53. (15 December 2017). "BBC Sports Personality 2017: Roger Federer wins BBC overseas award for record fourth time". BBC Sport.
54. (16 December 2018). "Francesco Molinari wins SPOTY 2018 World Sport Star of the Year award". Mirror.
55. (15 December 2019). "Eliud Kipchoge wins World Sport Star of the Year 2019". BBC.
56. (19 December 2020). "BBC Names Khabib Nurmagomedov World Sport Star of 2020". ufc.
57. (19 December 2021). "Sports Personality 2021: Rachael Blackmore crowned BBC's World Sport Star of the Year". BBC Sport.
58. (19 December 2022). "Lionel Messi named BBC Sports Personality's World Sport Star of the Year". BBC Sport.
59. (19 December 2023). "Sports Personality of the Year 2023: Erling Haaland named World Sport Star of the Year". BBC Sport.
60. (17 December 2024). "Duplantis named BBC World Sport Star of the Year". BBC Sport.
61. (18 December 2025). "Duplantis wins second straight World Sport Star award". BBC Sport.