ABC Sports Award of the Year was one of the premier sports awards in Australia. From 1951 to 1983, it was called the ABC Sportsman of the Year Award. [1]
The award was originally voted for by Australian Broadcasting Corporation sports supervisors and the sports editors of major Australian newspapers. After 1983, members of the Australian Sportswriters' Association also voted. [2] The awards were first presented on television in 1957. [3]
Swimmer Dawn Fraser was voted as the best Australian sportsman of the 25 years in 1975 as part of the award silver jubilee celebrations. [2]
In 1993, there was a merger of the Sport Australia Awards and the ABC Sports Award of the Year with the new award known as ABC Sport Australia Awards. [4] After 1994, the new award removed the ABC from its title. [5] The award was later known as the Australian Sport Awards and ceased in 2006. The main national annual awards are Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards and the Australian Institute of Sport Awards.
Team award was introduced in 1987.
Year | Team | Sport |
---|---|---|
1987 | Australian cricket team | Cricket |
1988 | Australia women's national field hockey team (Hockeyroos) | Field hockey |
1989 | Australian cricket team | Cricket |
1990 | Australian men's rowing coxless four crew (Oarsome Foursome) | Rowing |
1991 | Australia national rugby union team (Wallabies) | Rugby union |
1992 | Australian men's rowing coxless four crew (Oarsome Foursome) | Rowing |
1993 | Australian cricket team (joint winner) | Cricket |
1993 | Australian Men's Team Pursuit Team (joint winner) | Cycling |
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec's number-four time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame.
Shane Elizabeth Gould is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In 2018, she won the fifth season of Australian Survivor, becoming the oldest winner of any Survivor franchise.
Ronald William Clarke, AO, MBE 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 setting seventeen world records.
John Edwin BertrandAO is a yachtsman from Australia, who skippered Australia II to victory in the 1983 America's Cup, ending 132 years of American supremacy, and the only time Australia has won. Bertrand won the bronze medal in the Finn competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. In 2010 and 2016, he won the world Etchells class sailing championships. He is a life member of both the Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Melbourne, and the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club.
Alix Louise Sauvage, OAM is an Australian paralympic wheelchair racer and leading coach.
Richard Ian CharlesworthAO is an Australian sports coach and former politician. He played first-class cricket for Western Australia and international field hockey for the Kookaburras, winning a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics and winning the World Cup in 1986. Charlesworth served as a federal member of parliament from 1983 to 1993, representing the Labor Party. After leaving politics, he was appointed coach of the Hockeyroos, leading them to Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. Charlesworth later coached the Kookaburras from 2009 to 2014, and has also worked in consulting roles with the New Zealand national cricket team, the Australian Institute of Sport, and the Fremantle Football Club.
Bruce William McAvaney OAM is an Australian sports broadcaster with the Seven Network. McAvaney has presented high-profile events including the AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, Australian Open, Test cricket and both Winter and Summer Olympics, as well as annual special events such as the Brownlow Medal. McAvaney is well known for his commentary of AFL matches as well as covering every Summer Olympic Games from the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympic Games to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Jack Ernest PollardOAM was an Australian sports journalist, writer and cricket historian.
Michael John Milton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic skier, Paralympic cyclist and paratriathlete with one leg. With 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals he is the most successful Australian Paralympic athlete in the Winter Games.
The Australian Sport Awards, originally called the Sport Australia Awards, were established by the Confederation of Australian Sport in 1980. From 1980 to 1996, the awards were limited to seven categories.
Priya Naree Cooper, is an Australian world champion disabled swimmer, winning nine Paralympic gold medals as well as world records and world championships. She competed in the Australian swimming team at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Paralympics with an S8 classification. She was twice the co-captain of the Australian Paralympic team, including at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and carried the Australian flag at the closing ceremonies for the 1992 and 1996 Summer Paralympics. Cooper has cerebral palsy and spends much of her time in a wheelchair. She attended university, working on a course in health management. After she ended her competitive Paralympic career, she became a commentator, and covered the swimming events at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Dylan Martin Alcott, is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball player, radio host, actor, foundation founder, business owner and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". At the age of 17, he became the youngest Rollers gold medal winner, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles. He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio.
Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian teams that participate at the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.
David Robert Hall, OAM is an Australian former professional wheelchair tennis player. With eight US Open singles titles, two Masters singles titles, and a Paralympic gold medal in singles, he has been referred to as Australia's greatest ever wheelchair tennis player.
Karl Peter Thomas Feifar, OAM was an indigenous Australian amputee athlete and Paralympic competitor.
John Bloomfield was an Australian sport and sport science academic and author. Bloomfield played a crucial role in the development of the Australian high performance sport system between 1973 and 1989, particularly in relation to the Australian Institute of Sport and the Australian Sports Commission. While active in the above, he lectured and conducted research at the University of Western Australia and, from time to time, in North America and Eastern and Western Europe.
Perry Rothrock Crosswhite AM is a former Australian Olympic basketballer and leading sport administrator.
Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) was opened in 1981. AIS Sports Star of the Year was first established in 1983/84 with the first winner being swimmer Karen Phillips. In 1995, AIS Junior Athlete of the Year was established. Other major awards include AIS Team of The Year, AIS Coach of the Year and AIS Program of the Year. Other awards included: Sport Achievement Awards, Vocation Awards and Education Awards. There were several memorial scholarship awards that recognise the contribution of deceased AIS athletes, coaches and administrators - Brent Harding Memorial Award for Swimming, Nathan Meade Memorial Award for Diving, Gary Knoke Memorial Award for Athletics, Darren Smith Memorial Award for Road Cycling, Ben Mitchell Medal for AFL and Bob Staunton Memorial Award for Basketball.
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser the first female inductee. In 1989, the Hall of Fame was expanded to include associate members who have assisted in the development of sport in Australia. In 2012, there were 518 members. Each year the Hall of Fame inducts notable retired athletes, associate members and upgrades one member to 'legend' status.
Joyce Alice Brown is a former Australia netball international and national team head coach. Brown captained Australia at the inaugural 1963 World Netball Championships, winning a gold medal. She later coached Australia at the 1975, 1983 and 1991 World Netball Championships and at the 1993 World Games, guiding the team to four gold medals. Brown never lost a World Netball Championship match, either as a player or coach. In 1992 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. Between 1999 and 2002, Brown served as head coach of Melbourne Phoenix in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league, leading them to the premiership in 2000 and 2002. Brown also served as a netball umpire and sports administrator.