Nominees

Justin Eveson

New York Yankees

Tom Watson

Lionel Messi

The greatest footballer of his generation - and still just 24 - Messi scored 53 goals in all competitions for Barcelona in the 2010/11 season.

Britta Steffen

Jenson Button

Following the withdrawal of Honda from Formula One at the end of 2008, Britain’s Jenson Button was left without a drive until former Honda technical director Ross Brawn stepped in and engineered a management buyout of the team.

Roger Federer

The year 2009 proved to be a historic one for Roger Federer as he passed many tennis milestones. His victory over Robin Soderling at the French Open made him one of only six men to have completed a career Grand Slam of Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open titles.

Mick Fanning

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi, as usual, was many people’s favourite to win the World MotoGP championship in 2010, so it was no surprise that the new season began with Rossi winning the first race in Qatar after early leader Casey Stoner crashed out.

Stephanie Gilmore

Stephanie Gilmore, the undisputed queen of the surf, reinforced her status as the dominant woman’s surfer in the world in 2010 when she won her fourth consecutive world championship, an amazing accomplishment, making her the only surfer, male or female, to win the Association of Surfing Pro