Special Awards
Arthur Ashe Courage Award: President Nelson Mandela
Jimmy V Award For Perseverance: Don Meyer, Northern State University coach
Best Comeback: Dara Torres, Olympic swimmer.

Best in Sport
Best Female Athlete: Nastia Liukin, Gymnastics
Best Male Athlete: Michael Phelps, Olympic Swimming
Best Moment: US Swim team wins thrilling finish in Olympic relay
Best Team: Los Angeles Lakers
Best Coach/Manager: Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers
Best Game: Steelers vs. Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII
Best Championship Performance: Michael Phelps, Olympic Swimming
Best Play: Roethlisberger to Holmes Super Bowl Winning TD
Best Upset: US Soccer shocks Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinals
Best Breakthrough Athlete: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
Best Record Breaking Performance: Michael Phelps, Olympic Swimming
Best Sports Movie: The Express: The Ernie Davis Story
Best Male College Athlete: Tim Tebow, Florida Football
Best Female College Athlete: Maya Moore, Connecticut Women’s Basketball
Best Male Athlete with a Disability: Jason Lester, Ironman Triathlete
Best Female Athlete with a Disability: Erin Popovich, Swimming
Best International Male Athlete: Usain Bolt (Jamaica, Sprinter)
Best International Female Athlete: Lorena Ochoa (Mexico, Golf)

Individual Sports
Best Baseball Player: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Best NBA Player: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Best WNBA Player: Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks
Best NFL Player: Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals
Best NHL Player: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Best MLS Player: Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy
Best Male Action Sports Athlete: Shaun White, Skateboarding/Snowboarding
Best Female Action Sports Athlete: Maya Gabeira, Surfing
Best Bowler: Norm Duke
Best Driver: Jimmie Johnson
Best Fighter: Manny Pacquiao, Boxing
Best Male Golfer: Tiger Woods
Best Female Golfer: Lorena Ochoa
Best Jockey: Calvin Borel

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Sarah Palin 2009 Calendar

The Jonas Brothers 2009 Deluxe Wall Calendar

Phelps was the star of the Beijing Olympics, winning a record eight gold medals. His 14 career gold medals are the most won by an Olympian.

Phelps is the first swimmer ever to receive the prestigious Sportsman of the Year designation.

Sports Illustrated named its first Sportsman of the Year in 1954, bestowing the honor on Roger Bannister the same year the distance runner become the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes.

Here’s a list of the last 10 winners:

To see the rest, and to look back on the covers from all those years, visit SI.com

More than 200,000 votes were tabulated. Readers also were allowed to add a comment explaining why that individual was worthy of recognition.

Here are the Top 10:

  1. Barack Obama
  2. Steve Jobs
  3. Michael Phelps
  4. Robert Downey, Jr.
  5. Stephen Colbert
  6. Gordon Ramsay
  7. Christian Bale
  8. Rob Kay
  9. Cristiano Ronaldo
10. John McCain

To see the full list, and find out what readers had to say about each, visit AskMen.com. You can also see the 2007 list and the 2006 version to find out whose stock is rising or falling.

Swimming is one of the most popular events every four years. American Michael Phelps was the most watched man in 2004, setting four Olympic records in Athens, and he was just getting warmed up for his record-breaking eight gold medals in the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Clearly, swimming records are made to be broken, and the 2008 Olympics pretty much rewrote the book.

Here are the current Olympic record holders in major races, post Beijing:

50 meter freestyle: Cesar Cielo, Brazil (21.30 in 2008)

100 meter freestyle: Eamon Sullivan, Australia (47.05 in 2008)

200 meter freestyle: Michael Phelps, USA (1:42.96 in 2008)

400 meter freestyle: Ian Thorpe, Australia (3:40.59 in 2000)

1,500 meter freestyle: Grant Hackett, Australia (14.38.92 in 2008)

100 meter backstroke: Aaron Peirsol, USA (52.54 in 2008)

200 meter backstroke: Ryan Lochte, USA (1:53.94in 2008)

100 meter breaststroke: Kosuke Kitajima, Japan (58.91 in 2008)

200 meter breaststroke: Kosuke Kitajima, Japan (2:07.64 in 2008)

100 meter butterfly: Michael Phelps, USA (50.58 in 2008)

200 meter butterfly: Michael Phelps, USA (1:52.03 in 2008)

200 meter Individual Medley: Michael Phelps, USA (1:54.23 in 2008)

400 meter Individual Medley: Michael Phelps, USA (4:03.86 in 2008)

4×100 meter Freestyle Relay: USA, Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak (3:08.24 in 2008)

4×200 meter Freestyle Relay: USA, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens, Peter Vanderkaay (6:58.56 in 2008)

4×100 meter Medley Relay: USA, Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak (3:29.34 in 2008)

Source: Beijing 2008.

Let’s put the whopper right at the top: Michael Phelps, the best swimmer of all time, eats 12,000 calories a day when competing or training. 

He’s claimed that all he does is eat, sleep and swim. We get the sleeping and swimming part, but what about the food?

According to the Post, Phelps typical daily fare (he gobbles about 4,000 calories every time he sits down to eat) consists of:

Breakfast

Three fried-egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

Two cups of coffee

A five-egg omelet

A bowl of grits

Three slices of French toast

Three chocolate-chip pancakes

Lunch

A pound of pasta

Two ham and cheese sandwichs with extra mayo on white bread

Energy drinks, about 1,000 calories worth.

Dinner

A pound of pasta

A pizza

More energy drinks for another 1,000 calories.

For a little perspective, based on the calorie counts from Chowbaby.com, that is the equivalent of eating 20 Big Macs in a day, or about 17 Grand Slam Breakfasts at Denny’s or about 16 Cinnabons. Makes you hungry, eh?

Read the story in the New York Post

While the first week of the Games featured its share of awkward moments and disappointments, Americans had plenty to be happy about, too. Although the week often seemed like Michael Phelps’ personal highlight reel, the U.S. poster boy had plenty of company on the medal podium.

Here are our picks for the top American moments:

1. Michael Phelps wins eight gold medals, bettering Mark Spitz (7) for the most golds in a single Olympics, becoming the face of the Games in the process.

2. Jason Lezak swims one the most remarkable anchor laps in Olympic swimming history, making up nearly a body length on the leader to give the U.S. the gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle relay, keeping Phelps’ chances for a record eight gold medals alive. Lezak goes on to swim the anchor of Phelps’ final race, making Olympic history for both.

3. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson grab gold and silver respectively in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition.

4. Natalie Coughlin wins her 10th Olympic medal by taking gold in the women’s 100 meter backstroke. She finishes with 11.

5. Rebecca Soni surprises by claiming the gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke in a world-record time of 2:20.22.

6. Ryan Lochte sets Olympic and world records in winning the men’s 200 meter backstroke.

7. Aaron Peirsol establishes Olympic and world records in winning the men’s 100 meter backstroke.

8. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh cruise into the women’s beach volleyball semifinals.

9. The U.S. women’s softball team rolls through the early stages of the tournament, getting a no-hitter from Cat Osterman in the process.

10. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson and Beca Ward get the Games off to a big start for the U.S., sweeping the podium in women’s fencing.

11. Dara Torres, a 41-year-old mother competing in her fifth Olympics, wins three silver medals to push her career total to 12 medals in all. 

Going in to the 2008 Olympics, Phelps was one of the most recognizable athletes competing for the United States. He managed to grab an amazing eight medals (6 gold, 2 bronze) in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and rewrote the record books many times, putting himself in the national spotlight.

Here’s a list of his Olympic medals-to-date from Beijing and Athens:

Beijing, 2008:

• 400 m Medley Relay Gold (World Record)
• 100 m Butterfly Gold (Olympic Record)
• 200 m Individual Medley Gold (World Record)
• 4×200 m Freestyle Relay Gold (World Record)
• 200 m Butterfly Gold (World Record)
• 200 m Freestyle Gold (World Record)
• 4×100 m Freestyle Relay Gold (World Record)
• 400 m Individual Medley Gold (World Record)

Athens, 2004:

• 100 m Butterfly Gold (Olympic Record)
• 200 m Butterfly Gold (Olympic Record)
• 200 m Individual Medley Gold (Olympic Record)
• 400 m Individual Medley Gold (World Record)
• 4 x 100 m Medley Relay Gold
• 4 x 200 m Freestyle Relay Gold (American Record)
• 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay Bronze
• 200 m Freestyle Bronze (American Record)

Source: USA Swimming

His edge for a single Olympics, however, was not secured until his final relay, which yielded his eighth gold of the 2008 Beijing Games.

Who else is in the discussion? Here’s the list of most gold medals won in a single Games:

8. Michael Phelps, USA, aquatics (2008)

7. Mark Spitz, USA, aquatics (1972)

6. Kristin Otto, East Germany, aquatics (1988)

6. Vitaly Scherbo, Unified Team, gymastics (1992)

Source: Olympic.org

Some are young, up-and-comers. Others are veterans looking for one more moment in the Olympic sun. A few return with hopes of making amends for failures past.

Curious who the magazine expects to dominate the headlines?

Here are the Top 10:

1. LeBron James, basketball, United States

2. Dara Torres, swimming, United States

3. Michael Phelps, swimming, United States

4. Liu Xiang, hurdles, China

5. Yao Ming, basketball, China

6. Allyson Felix, sprints, United States

7. Shawn Johnson, gymnastics, United States

8. Roman Sebrle, decathlon, Czech Republic

9. Guo Jingjing, diving, China

10. Tyson Gay, sprints, United States

To read all about these athletes on the hot seat, and to see the rest of the list, visit Time.