Bolt

Triple Olympic Games gold medallist and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Male Athlete of the Year, Usain Bolt, has been shortlisted for the World Sports Man of the Year award.

Bolt, winner of the 100m (9.69), 200m (19.30) and a member of Jamaica's 4x100m gold medal team (37.10), all in world record times, faces a tough challenge to top the annual Athlete of the Year ballot - covering all sports - which is organised by the United States Sports Academy.

American swimmer Michael Phelps, winner of eight Olympic gold medals while setting seven world records in Beijing, is Bolt's main challenger.

He won the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:03.84 as well as the 200m individual medley (1:54.23), 100m butterfly (50.58), 200m freestyle (1:42.96), 200m butterfly (1:52.03), 4x200m freestyle relay (6:58.56), 4x100m relay (3:08.24) and 4x100m medley relay (3:29.34).

Other nominees in the male section, which will be announced on Thursday, are: Kobe Bryant (United States - basketball); Roger Federer (Switzerland - tennis); Tiger Woods (United States - golf); Brian Clay (United States - decathlon); Haile Gebreselassie (Ethiopia - marathon); Ryan Howard (United States - baseball); Jimmie Johnson (United States - auto racing (NASCAR); Eli Manning (United States - professional football); Rafael Nadal (Spain - tennis); Tim Tebow (United States - college football).

The female nominees are: Rebecca Adlington (United Kingdom - swimming); Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe - swimming); Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia - track and field); Yalena Isinbayeva (Russian Federation - track and field); Guo Jingjing (China - diving); Nastia Liukin (United States - gymnastics); Lorena Ochoa (Mexico - golf); Candace Parker (United States - basketball); Paula Radcliffe (United Kingdom - marathon); Lindsey Vonn (United States - skiing); Chrissie Wellington (United Kingdom - triathlon) and Serena Williams (United States - tennis).