Since its inception in 1954,
Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "
Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the vast majority of winners have been from the United States. Both men and women have won the award, it being renamed as "Sportswoman" or "Sportswomen" and currently "sportsperson of the year".