Jenson Button
Jenson Button did not do badly considering he faced being left without a drive for the start of the 2009 season due to the demise of his Honda team. Instead Button took a pay-cut to be part of the Brawn team formed from the ashes of Honda and the result was spectacular. Button - with just a solitary Grand Prix victory to show from nine previous Formula One seasons - won six of the first seven races, giving him a championship lead which would prove unassailable. Ended the year by agreeing a lucrative move to McLaren, where he will link up with 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Andrew Strauss
Strauss might have made an ignominious start to his career as England's new cricket captain as his team were bowled out for 51 by the West Indies. But by the end of a year which began with the controversy of Kevin Pietersen's resignation, Strauss had emphatically underlined his captaincy qualities with a number of tough tactical choices and a series average of over 50 as the Ashes were regained.

Manny Pacquiao
The Filipino fought twice in 2009 and in the process underlined his status as the number one fighter in the sport today - Floyd Mayweather included. First Pacquiao stepped up to light-welterweight to hammer Ricky Hatton to a violent second-round defeat. Then he went up again to master the ferocious welterweight Miguel Cotto. A one-sided 12th-round stoppage win under his belt, Pacquiao now goes in search of a showdown with Mayweather.

John Smit
Having sat out much of the 2008 Tri Nations through injury, 2009 proved to be Smit's triumphant return. Smit led the Springboks to a series win over the British and Irish Lions before excelling in his return to Tri Nations competition as South Africa won five of their six matches, including three big wins against New Zealand. In doing so Smit set a new record as the most-capped captain in international rugby history - a mark now standing at 67.

Ye Yang
South Korean golfer YE Yang is considered to have blazed a trail which plenty of others will follow in 2009 when he became the first Asian golfer to win one of the sport's four major titles. Earlier in the year, Yang had matched KJ Choi as Asia's only two regular PGA Tour winners. In August, he went one better, recovering from a two-stroke final round deficit to see off the considerable challenge of Tiger Woods and win the PGA Championship.

Anita Wlodarcyzk
Hers is not a name to roll off the tongue at the best of times. But the Polish hammer-thrower was indisputably the best female athlete of 2009. Stepping up from a bronze medal in the 2008 World final, Wlodarczyk started the year with a world team title. Then two personal bests in Biala Podlaska and Ostrava sent her to the World Championships in Berlin in top form. Wlodarczyk went on to hurl a new world record of 77.96metres. In doing so she became the first and only female athlete to set a new world record in Berlin.

Ryan Giggs
Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs has been written off many times in his career only to confound the critics. And never has he done so as emphatically as he did in 2009, when for the first time in his illustrious career he was awarded the prestigious PFA Footballer of the Year award. Giggs, who has now surpassed 700 appearances for United, remains as integral to the club's immediate future as ever.

Kim Clijsters
Even mighty mother Kim Clijsters could have had no idea just how dramatic her return to the 2009 WTA Tour would prove to be. The Belgian returned from a two-year hiatus with promising performances in three tournaments before entering the US Open as a wild-card. Stunning wins over Venus Williams and her sister Serena in a controversial semi-final set Clijsters up to fulfil her dream comeback with a final win over Caroline Wozniacki.

Usain Bolt
The extraordinary Jamaican sprinter did the almost-impossible in 2009, eclipsing his performances at the previous summer's Beijing Olympics and emphatically underlining how there is no other sprinter who can touch him. At the World Championships in Berlin, Bolt lowered his own 100m world record to 9.58 seconds. Then he left his rivals trailing as he repeated the feat in the 200m, shaving off 0.11seconds for a winning time of 19.19.

Beth Tweddle
Having suffered the agony of a fourth-place finish at the Beijing Olympics, 2009 was the year in which British gymnast Beth Tweddle finally proved she deserved her place among the world's best. Two golds in the European Championships set her up for her home World Championships in London. After failing to qualify for the final of her favoured uneven bars, Tweddle responded brilliantly by going out and claiming unexpected gold for her floor routine.