The BBC World Sport Star of the Year (formerly known as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year) is an award presented at the annual

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been ...

award ceremony. The award is presented to a non-British sportsperson considered to have made the most substantial contribution to a sport in that year. The award was decided by a panel of over 30 sporting journalists. Each panellist voted for their top two choices; their first preference was awarded two points, and their second preference was awarded one point. The winning sportsperson had the most total points. In the case of a points tie, the sportsperson chosen as first preference by the most panellists is the winner. If this is also a tie the award is shared. In 2015 the public voted for this award. The Overseas Personality award was first presented in 1960, six years after the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award was introduced. The first recipient of the award was Australian middle distance runner

Herb Elliott Herbert James Elliott (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the world record in the mile run, clocking 3:54.5, 2.7 seconds under the re ...

. Since then, the award has been presented to 51 sportspersons. Swiss tennis player

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

has won the award four times. American boxer

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

and Jamaican sprinter

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

have both won the award three times. The award has been shared on three occasions—by

Ron Clarke Ronald William Clarke, AO, MBE (21 February 1937 – 17 June 2015) was an Australian athlete, writer, and the Mayor of the Gold Coast from 2004 to 2012. He was one of the best-known middle- and long-distance runners in the 1960s, notable for ...

and

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

in 1965,

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

and

Garfield Sobers Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, ...

in 1966, and

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the Undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion at cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight in the late 1 ...

and Michael Johnson in 1996. The husband-and-wife skating duo of

Oleg Protopopov Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov (russian: link=no, Оле́г Алексе́евич Протопо́пов; born 16 July 1932) is a former Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his wife Ludmila Belousova he is a two-time Olymp ...

and

Ludmila Belousova Ludmila Yevgenyevna Belousova (russian: Людмила Евгеньевна Белоусова; 22 November 1935 – 26 September 2017) was a Soviet and Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With her partner and husband Oleg P ...

are the only pair to have won the award, doing so in 1968. Belousova was the first woman to become Overseas Personality—she was also the oldest, aged 33. George Moore is the oldest recipient of the award, winning in 1967 aged 44. The youngest recipient of the award is

Nadia Comăneci Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 ...

, who won in 1976 at age 15.

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (, ; born 22 November 1967) is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker was successful from the start of his career, winning the Wimbledon Championships at the age of 17. He ultimately won six Grand Slam singles tit ...

, who was 18 when he won in 1985, is the youngest male to have won. Twenty-six different countries have been represented by the award winners as of 2022. United States sportspersons have won the award the most times, having had nineteen recipients, two of whom shared the award. Three cricketers have received the award --

of Barbados,

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing rec ...

of Trinidad and Tobago (both of whom played for the

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players on ...

), and

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australi ...

of Australia. Fourteen sporting disciplines have been represented; tennis has the highest representation, with fifteen recipients. Only one winner has ever been stripped of the award – U.S. cyclist

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

, whose 2003 award was rescinded following the UCI's 2012 decision to strip him of his titles and ban him for life from the sport. In 2018, the award was renamed BBC World Sport Star of the Year. Along with the change of name, votes could be cast from outside of the UK for the first time.