DECEMBER 31, 2001
Schumacher wins again
Schumacher beat out Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, Italian 500cc motorcycle World Champion Valentino Rossi, and Moroccan track star Hicham El Guerrouj for the honor.
The German, who won his fourth World Championship and became the winningest driver in Formula One history in 2001, said of the award, "I'm very surprised and very honored by this nomination, but I know that standings like this one will never give a true image of all the year's performances so I also want to pay tribute to all the athletes who were nominated by the jury".