Sportsman of the Year (Japan)
With the Grand Prix of Japanese Professional Sports ( Japanese 日本 プ ロ ス ポ ー ツ 大 賞 Nihon puro supōtsu taishō for Nihon Pro Sports Taishō ) Japan's Sportsman of the Year has been awarded since 1968 . The election is carried out by the Association of Japanese Professional Sports ( Nippon Pro Sports Kyōkai ). All Japanese professional athletes and foreigners working in Japan can be elected; there is no separation between individual athletes and teams and between women and men.
With the American baseball player Randy Bass and the Mongolian- born sumo wrestlers Asashōryū Akinori and Hakuhō Shō , three foreigners have been elected so far; the golfer Ayako Okamoto and the world championship team in women's football 2011 are the only female award winners so far.
List of winners
Web links
- Japanese Professional Sports Association (Japanese)