Nominee / Winner

Rory McIlroy captured his first Major Championship in June 2011, when he won the US Open at Congressional by eight shots. It was an emotional win for McIlroy, who had seemed a certain winner of the US Masters two months earlier when leading by four shots, but had scored a final round 80. McIlroy more than made up for that disappointment with his US Open victory which broke many records. At 22, he was the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923, he finished with a record score of 16-under-par and it was a record total of 268, beating the previous lowest score by four. In October, he won the richest prize in golf, the US$2 million first prize at the Shanghai Masters, after a play-off against Anthony Kim.

Only 19, Carissa Moore burst onto the women’s competitive surf scene in 2011 with astonishing results. She won the professional tour’s first event, the Roxy Pro on Australia’s Gold Coast, then followed that with other impressive victories at the Beachley Classic and the Billabong Rio Pro. Over the course of the season, Moore only finished below second once - a third at the US Open. She notched three seconds to go with her three wins and held off a very strong challenge from Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons to win the World Surfing Championship. In November, she was given a rare invitation to compete with the men at the Van’s Triple Crown. 

Darren Clarke’s victory in the Open Championship at the age of 42 was one of the most emotional sporting moments of the year. It was his 20th attempt to win The Open and came at the end of very difficult time for him. His wife Heather had died the day before his 38th birthday which meant he had to put his golf to one side as he concentrated on looking after his sons. The year 2007 proved to be his least successful and although he did win the BMW Asian Open and KLM Open in 2008, he only managed three top 10 finishes in 2009. In May 2011, Clarke won his first European Tour title since 2008 with a three-stroke victory in the Iberdrola Open, which he followed in July with his Open victory at Royal St George’s. He dedicated his victory to his two sons and his late wife. He said: “In terms of what's going through my heart, there's obviously somebody who is watching from up above and I know she'd be very proud of me. It's been a long journey to get here."

Victory in rugby’s Super 15 competition by Queensland Reds gave a huge lift to people in that part of Australia who had suffered tremendously in a series of floods in December 2010, in which 35 people died. After several seasons of mediocrity, the Reds finished the regular season at the top of the table, with 13 wins and 3 losses. Guided by coach Ewen McKenzie, in the final in Brisbane, they beat New Zealand’s Crusaders 18-13 in front of a 52,113 crowd.  Among the Reds players were Australian Test stars Quade Cooper, Will Genia and James Horwill.

Russia’s Irek Zaripov won six medals at the 2011 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. He won gold in the 10km Cross-Country and the 7.5km and 12.5km Biathlon. He also picked up silver medals in the men’s 3km Biathlon Pursuit and 15km Cross-Country, as well as a bronze in the 0.9km Cross-Country Sprint. The 28-year-old only started skiing competitively in 2005, when he parents persuaded him to take up sport. He had lost both legs when he was involved in a motor cycle accident when he was just 17. At the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, Zaripov wowed the crowds with four gold medals and a silver. Zaripov is now training to compete at home in the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games.

After his face has appeared on advertising billboards, newspapers and local buses, David Weir will be one of the most recognisable athletes taking part in next summer’s Paralympic Games in London and one of Britain’s best hopes for a gold medal. Since his first Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004, he has won six medals, including two gold, plus six world titles and five London Marathons. At the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand many expected world record holder Marcel Hug from Switzerland to be the dominant force, but Weir proved himself a tactical genius and knew exactly where he needed to be at the right time to win gold in the 800, 1,500 and 5,000 metres T54 wheelchair events, leaving Hug with silver medals in each category.

Super 15 rugby team Crusaders were badly affected when their home city of Christchurch was hit by the massive February earthquake which caused 181 deaths and caused widespread destruction. With their home stadium badly damaged, the Crusaders have been forced to travel more than 100,000km this year to play their rugby. Despite these hardships, they reached the final of Super 15. Although they lost 18-13 to Queensland Reds, their performance helped to restore spirits in New Zealand. Among the Crusaders players were All Blacks stars Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Kieran Read.

Terezinha Guilhermina, who is visually impaired and runs all her races with a guide, is the world-record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 metres T11 sprints and a strong contender for gold medals in the London Paralympics in 2012. Although a big name in Brazil following her gold medal in the 200m in the Beijing Paralympics, it was not until 2011 that the world took notice of her. At the IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand, she won four gold medals and set a host of records. She lowered her own 100m world record, set in 2007, from 12.27 to 12.13 secs and in the 200m ran 24.98 to break the world record that had stood for ten years. She also took gold in the 400m and as part of the 4x100m relay team. Six months later, she clocked 12.04 secs to lower her 100m record further. Her 2011 campaign ended with three more gold medals at the Parapan American Games in Guadalajara.

In May, FC Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1 to win the Champions League. Despite being diagnosed with cancer and having treatment for a tumour on the liver two months earlier, Frenchman Eric Abidal had recovered enough to play the whole game. In a moving gesture to mark his recovery, Carles Puyol handed him the captain’s armband for the night and he was the first in the team to receive the trophy. Shortly after Abidal had been diagnosed with the disease, both Real Madrid and Olympique Lyonnais players wore Ánimo Abidal (Strength Abidal) shirts before their Champions League match. During Barcelona's match against Getafe, the supporters at the stadium clapped for the entire 22nd minute, which is Abidal's shirt number.

Mo Farah won the gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the World Championships in Daegu, becoming the first British man to win the world title over the distance. He also won silver in the 10,000 metres. Earlier in the year he had won the 3,000 metres gold medal in the European Indoor Championship and in June set a new British and European 10,000 metres record in Eugene, Oregon, of 26 mins 46.57 secs. He was named European Athlete of the Year. Born in Somalia, his family moved to Britain when he was eight. He has now relocated to Oregon in the United States.