United Press International Athlete of the Year Award

The United Press International Athlete of the Year Award was conferred annually between 1974 and 1995, one each to the individuals adjudged, without restriction to nationality or sport contested, to be the male and female athlete of the year by a panel of sportswriters and editors constituted under the auspices of the United Press International.[1]

Male winners

Year Athlete Nation represented Sport
1974 Muhammad Ali United States Boxing
1975 João Carlos de Oliveira Brazil Athletics
1976 Alberto Juantorena Cuba Athletics
1977 Alberto Juantorena Cuba Athletics
1978 Henry Rono Kenya Athletics
1979 Sebastian Coe United Kingdom Athletics
1980 Eric Heiden United States Speed skating
1981 Sebastian Coe United Kingdom Athletics
1982 Daley Thompson United Kingdom Athletics
1983 Carl Lewis United States Athletics
1984 Carl Lewis United States Athletics
1985 Steve Cram United Kingdom Athletics
1986[2] Diego Maradona Argentina Football
1987 Ben Johnson Canada Athletics
1988 Matt Biondi United States Swimming
1989 Boris Becker West Germany Tennis
1990 Stefan Edberg Sweden Tennis
1991 Sergey Bubka Soviet Union Athletics
1992 Kevin Young United States Athletics
1993 Miguel Indurain Spain Road cycling
1994 Johann Olav Koss Norway Speed skating
1995 Jonathan Edwards United Kingdom Athletics

Female winners

Year Athlete Nation represented Sport
1974 Irena Szewińska Poland Athletics
1975 Nadia Comăneci Romania Artistic gymnastics
1976 Nadia Comăneci Romania Artistic gymnastics
1977 Rosemarie Ackermann East Germany Athletics
1978 Tracy Caulkins United States Swimming
1979 Marita Koch East Germany Athletics
1980 Hanni Wenzel Liechtenstein Alpine skiing
1981 Chris Evert Lloyd United States Tennis
1982 Marita Koch East Germany Athletics
1983 Jarmila Kratochvílová Czechoslovakia Athletics
1984 Martina Navratilova United States Tennis
1985 Mary Decker Slaney United States Athletics
1986 Heike Drechsler East Germany Athletics
1987 Steffi Graf West Germany Tennis
1988 Florence Griffith-Joyner United States Athletics
1989 Steffi Graf West Germany Tennis
1990 Merlene Ottey Jamaica Athletics
1991 Monica Seles SFR Yugoslavia Tennis
1992 Monica Seles FR Yugoslavia Tennis
1993 Wang Junxia China Athletics
1994 Le Jingyi China Swimming
1995 Gwen Torrence United States Athletics

Notes

See also

References

  1. ^ In 1974 and 1975, the voting panel comprised sportswriters and editors exclusively from Europe.
  2. ^ "Maradona polled 149 votes, 34 ahead of world tennis champion Ivan Lendl. Alain Prost of France, the world auto racing champion, placed third with 110". UPI. 19 December 1986.

Bibliography