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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

See also edit

References edit

  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 edit

External links edit