Gary Ablett Jr
 After three years of sustained excellence by the AFL’s pre-eminent on-baller, Gary Ablett’s hard running, incisive handballing and phenomenal ball-winning capacity earned him the Brownlow Medal this year, polling an extraordinary 30 votes.
Craig Alexander
 Craig Alexander says he is ‘‘just too old and too stupid to roll over and give in” but that doggedness earned the Sydney triathlete stunning back-to-back world ironman titles. Alexander, 36, won the gruelling Hawaiian Ironman – a 3.8 kilometre swim, a 180km bike ride and 42.2km run – on the lava fields of Kona in October, replicating his feat of a year earlier.
Victor Darchinyan
 Vic ‘‘Raging Bull’’ Darchinyan started the year with great expectations. Coming off a standout flogging of pin-up boy Cristian Mijares in November last year that made him the first undisputed super-flyweight world champion, Darchinyan planned to join Jeff Fenech as the only Australian to win three world titles in three weight divisions.
Cadel Evans
 Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the men’s world road championship at Mendrisio, Switzerland in September with one of the most impressive rides seen this year. His victory was the result of meticulous preparation and reconnaissance of the hilly, 13.2-kilometre circuit – covered 19 times for a total distance of 262km – and a blistering attack in the last five kilometres.
Stephanie Gilmore
 Before her full-time debut in 2007, Gilmore made her now famous admission that she hoped to be the most successful female surfer in tour history. It was met with a few guffaws and a bit of consternation because one of Australia’s favourite daughters, Layne Beachley, was the benchmark with seven world titles.
Jarryd Hayne
 Remarkable as it seems now, Jarryd Hayne had a poor start to the year. He was tried unsuccessfully at five-eighth at Parramatta before coach Daniel Anderson switched him back to fullback. The impact was nothing short of extraordinary.
Steve Hooker
 Steve Hooker hobbled on one leg, knowing he had less than a handful of jumps in him, worked out his strategy, and, amazingly, won the pole vault gold medal at this year’s world championships in Berlin. Hooker, 27, the reigning Olympic champion, was a strong favourite before the event, but he tore his adductor muscle the week before competition.
Mitchell Johnson
 At his best, he was Marauding Mitch, producing unplayable spells, breaking fingers and carrying Australia on his golden left arm. At his worst, he was Hit the Pitch, Mitch, struggling during the Ashes. Either way, this has been a memorable year for Mitchell Johnson.
Emma Moffatt
 It is known as post-Olympic depression, and triathlete Emma Moffatt was suffering badly after winning a bronze medal at the Beijing Games. Early this year, she had had enough and decided she wanted to quit her sport.
Dani Samuels
 Sometimes an athlete with special gifts achieves a goal ahead of their time. When Dani Samuels hurled the discus an incredible 65.44 metres in Berlin in August, the Sydney University student became the youngest world champion discus thrower.
Jess Schipper
 Just over a year ago, Jessicah Schipper returned from the Beijing Olympics with a relay gold and a pair of bronze medals. But the excitement was missing. ‘‘I definitely knew after the Olympics I couldn’t go back to Ken [Wood, her coach since childhood] ... it just wasn’t exciting any more ...,’’ Schipper said.
Mark Webber
 After a stunning formula one debut, running fifth in an unconsidered Minardi at the Australian Grand Prix of 2002, Mark Webber looked set for a stellar future. Things turned out differently, however, with a succession of uninspired and unlucky career moves frustrating his progress.
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Australian Socceroos
 Ricky Ponting’s cricketers might be clinging to their status as the biggest brand name in Australian domestic sport, but the Socceroos are catching up fast. By the time this list is compiled next year, they might well have outpaced Ponting and co.
Geelong Football Club
 Geelong expected to win their second flag in two years when they were rolled by Hawthorn in the 2008 grand final. And it hurt. They came out of the blocks with a vengeance this year and showed from their first game that they meant business with 13 straight wins before going down in a thriller against StKilda in round 14.
Melbourne Storm
 The Storm marked themselves as the team of the decade and one of the best ever when they won their second premiership from four consecutive grand finals by holding off sentimental favourite Parramatta 23-16 in this year’s grand final.
Melbourne Vixens
 It was supposed to happen 12 months earlier, in the inaugural season of netball’s bold new trans-Tasman league. Back then, in 2008, one needed only to scan the all-star Melbourne Vixens’ playing roster to identify Australia’s most likely superteam. Right?
QLD State of Origin
 THE Maroons are fast building the kind of brand status enjoyed by the All Blacks and English Premier League sides Manchester United and Chelsea. They entered this year’s State of Origin series with a chance of becoming the first team to win four straight series in one of the tightest sporting rivalries in existence.
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Craig Bellamy
 Craig Bellamy’s record since he was given his first head coaching position, at the Melbourne Storm in 2003, is incredible. Seven years at the helm, four consecutive grand finals and two premierships, including this year’s title earned with a thrilling 23-16 win over Parramatta.
Bart Cummings
 Bart Cummings’s 12th Melbourne Cup victory with Viewed last year was itself enough to ensure a man officially and anecdotally acknowledged as a legend of Australian sport deserved strong consideration as Australia’s pre-eminent coach.
Alex Parnov
 Alex Parnov knows a good pole vaulter when he sees one. Back in 1983, he saw a very good one. Parnov had qualified for the Russian World Championship team, but the Russian federation had other ideas and asked him to give up his spot to a promising 19-year-old.
Mark Thompson
 A second flag in three consecutive attempts speaks volumes for Mark Thompson’s coaching abilities, but 2009 was far from easy. Everything was smooth in the beginning as Geelong won 13 games in a row, before they took on an undefeated St Kilda in round 14 and went down by six points
Pim Verbeek
 When the Dutchman took over as coach of the Socceroos in 2007, he had one overriding demand in his job description: get Australia to the World Cup. For the first time, the Socceroos had to qualify through Asia, and there were plenty of new and tricky obstacles to overcome – notably China, Japan, and Asian Cup champions Iraq.
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Ben Kantarovski
 Breaking records is nothing new for Newcastle Jets prodigy Ben Kantarovski. At 17, the Newcastle-born defender/midfielder is already a relative A-League veteran, having signed a professional deal with his hometown club when he was 15 – the youngest player to have been offered a professional career in the fledgling league’s short history.
Amy Pejkovic
 Amy Pejkovic has put high jump in the spotlight, following her stunning silver medal at the IAAF World Youth Championships at Bressanone, Italy, in July. The Cherrybrook athlete from Sydney cleared a new personal best of 1.85metres on her first attempt, to finish equal second with Russian Mariya Kuchina and just behind the victor, Alessia Trost of Italy, who cleared 1.87m.
Olivia Rogowska
 The 18-year-old achieved her highest WTA singles ranking of 167 in August and a career-best high in doubles of 384, in May. After a first-round loss at the Australian Open, Rogowska generated a fair amount of excitement among a public craving tennis success when she had a first-up French Open victory over world No.47 Maria Kirilenko.
Bernard Tomic
 Bernard Tomic’s progress through the junior ranks of elite tennis has stamped him as the hottest prospect in Australia since Lleyton Hewitt. He tasted varying degrees of success in the boy’s events at the grand slam tournaments: the quarter-finals at the French Open, semi-finals at Wimbledon and finally a victory at the US Open, where he dropped only four games in his defeat of American Chase Buchanan in the final
Lauren Mitchell
 The 18-year-old West Australian hinted at a stellar 2009 when she won a gold medal last December on the balance beam at a World Cup final in Madrid, and confirmed her world-class status with a string of top-notch results this year.
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Ryley Batt
 Ryley Batt is an Australian wheelchair rugby player who followed up his powerhouse efforts at the Beijing Paralympics by venturing to the US and the strongest national league in the world. The 19-year-old, so instrumental in Australia’s charge to the silver medal in Beijing.
Matt Cowdrey
 The 20-year-old South Australian arm amputee continued basking in the glow of his eight medals won in the Water Cube at the Beijing Paralympics by collecting the prestigious male athlete-of-the-year award from the International Paralympic Committee.
Justin Eveson
 Justin Eveson is the main man in Australia’s wheelchair basketball team, the Rollers, undisputed as the finest in the world. Highly skilful, turning his chair at sharp angles while shooting hoops with the opposition in his face, Eveson is the difference between Australia and most other sides.
Kurt Fearnley
 Australia’s revered wheelchair racer does not know how or when to stop. Having finished a tumultuous Beijing Paralympics with victory in the marathon, Fearnley could have been excused for having something of a break this year but he’s continued winning marathons all over the world.
Cameron Rahles-Rahbula
 Cameron Rahles-Rahbula is no stranger to the winner’s podium and this year he won a world championship gold medal in the slalom event at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championship held in Gangwon-Do, South Korea, in February.
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