RTÉ Sports Person of the Year

The RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Award is the titular award of the RTÉ Sports Awards ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the Irish sportsperson judged to have achieved the most that year. The winner was originally chosen by a special panel of RTÉ journalists and editorial staff, but was selected by a public vote from a predetermined shortlist in 2016.

History

The first Irish sports award ceremony took place in 1985, and was closely modelled on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.
Four people have won the award multiple times: athlete Sonia O'Sullivan won the award five times, including a record three successive awards, and golfer Pádraig Harrington and boxer Katie Taylor, with three wins, and golfer Rory McIlroy, who won it twice. The oldest recipient of the award is Christy O'Connor Jnr, who won in 1989 aged 41. Rory McIlroy, who first won in 2011, aged 22, is the youngest winner. Ten sporting disciplines have been represented; golf has the highest representation, with eight recipients.
Eamonn Darcy, Ronan Rafferty and Des Smyth, who won the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1988, are the only non-individual winners of the award. Counting them separately, there have been thirty-four winners of the award. Seven of these have been Northern Irish. The most recent award was made in 2024 to double Olympic champion rower Paul O'Donovan.

Winners

Year	Winner	Sport	Sporting synopsis	Ref.
1985		Boxing	Defeated Eusebio Pedroza to become World Boxing Association featherweight champion.
1986		Cycling	He finished on a podium in a grand tour for the first time when he finished third in the 1986 Vuelta a España.
1987		Cycling	Winner of the 1987 Tour de France, 1987 Giro d'Italia and 1987 World Cycling Championships, becoming only the second man after Eddy Merckx to win cycling's Triple Crown.
1988		Golf	For winning the 1988 Dunhill Cup.
1989		Golf	For a "pivotal" 2 iron shot on the last hole at the Belfry which he left just 4 feet from the hole during the successful 1989 Ryder Cup.
1990		Soccer	For his penalty save from Daniel Timofte of Romania which propelled the Republic of Ireland to the quarter-final of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
1991		Rugby union	Overall top scorer with 68 points at the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
1992		Boxing	Gold medallist in the welterweight section at the [1992 Summer Olympics\|1992 Barcelona Olympic Games\|Olympic Games].
1993		Athletics	Silver medallist in the 1500m at the World Championships.
1994		Athletics	Gold medallist in the 3000m at the European Championships.
1995		Athletics	Gold medallist in the 5000m at the World Championships.
1996		Swimming	Triple Olympic gold medallist for the 400m individual medley, 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley, and bronze medallist for the 200m butterfly event.
1997		Snooker	Winner of the 1997 World Snooker Championship.
1998		Athletics	Double gold medallist at the World Cross-Country Championships and double gold medallist at the European Championships.
1999		Soccer	Captain of the Manchester United team that completed a treble of English Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League successes.
2000		Athletics	Olympic silver medallist in the women's 5000m at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. This was her record fifth win in the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year.
2001		Soccer	Secured qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup for the [Republic of Ireland national rugby union team\|Ireland national football team\|Republic of Ireland national soccer team].
2002		Golf	Member of the European team that won the 2002 Ryder Cup.
2003		Horse racing	Winning jockey of the Aintree Grand National on Monty's Pass.
2004		Rugby union	Out-half of the Ireland team that won the Triple Crown in the 2004 Six Nations Championship.
2005		Hurling	All-Ireland- winning captain with Cork and winner of a [2005 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship\|All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final\|third] All-Ireland medal.
2006		Hurling	Won his fourth All-Ireland medal with Kilkenny as well as being named Hurler of the Year for a second time.
2007		Golf	Became the first Irishman in over sixty years to win the Open Championship.
2008		Golf	Retained his Open Championship, thus becoming the first European to win back to back major championships.
2009		Rugby union	Grand Slam-winning captain and member of the Leinster team that won the 2008–09 Heineken Cup
2010		Golf	Winner of the 2010 US Open and member of the European team that won the 2010 Ryder Cup.
2011		Golf	Winner of the 2011 US Open.
2012		Boxing	Olympic gold medallist in the women's lightweight section at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
2013		Horse racing	18-times champion jockey who created history in November when he rode his 4,000th winner over jumps.
2014		Golf	Won the 2014 Open Championship and 2014 PGA Championship, became the first European to win three different majors, and was a member of the European team that won the 2014 Ryder Cup.
2015		Boxing	Won the gold medal in the bantamweight division at the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships.
2016		Mixed martial arts	Became the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously.
2017		Soccer	Scored one of Ireland's most famous goals when he netted to secure a 1-0 win away to Wales, which secured a 2018 FIFA World Cup playoff spot.
2018		Rugby union	Won a Six Nations Grand Slam with Ireland, a Pro14-Champions Cup double with Leinster and was named World Rugby Player of the Year.
2019		Golf	Winner of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club.
2020		Boxing	Successfully defended her undisputed lightweight belts after defeating Delfine Persoon and Miriam Gutiérrez.
2021		Horse racing	The first woman to win the Grand National and the first to claim the leading rider title at the Cheltenham Festival.
2022		Boxing	Successfully defended her undisputed lightweight belts after defeating Amanda Serrano in a historic fight at Madison Square Garden, and also beating Karen Carabajal.	-
2023		Gymnastics	McClenaghan won a second European title and retained the world title in the 2023 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Entered Olympic year as reigning World, European and Commonwealth Games champion in the pommel horse.
2024		Rowing	O'Donovan won a second Olympic gold medal and third Olympic Medal in a row alongside Fintan McCarthy, making him the first Irish athlete to win three consecutive Olympic medals and the most successful Irish Olympian. He also won a World title in the lightweight Single Sculls

By number of wins

This table lists those who have won more than once.
Accurate up-to and including the 2022 award.

Winner	Number of wins
Sonia O'Sullivan	5
Pádraig Harrington	3
Katie Taylor	3
Rory McIlroy	3

By sport

This table lists the total number of awards won by the winner's sport. The 3 winners in 1988 are counted separately.
Accurate up-to and including the 2024 award.

Sport	Number of wins
Golf	11
Boxing	6
Athletics	5
Soccer	4
Rugby union	4
Horse racing	3
Cycling	2
Hurling	2
Swimming	1
Snooker	1
Mixed martial arts	1
Gymnastics	1
Rowing	1
Total	42

By gender

This table lists the total number of awards won by the winner's gender. There have not yet been any mixed-gender winners. The 3 winners in 1988 are counted separately.
Accurate up-to and including the 2023 award.

Gender	Number of wins
Male	32
Female	10
Mixed	0
Total	42

By disability

So far all winners have been able-bodied athletes, but para athletes among the nominees have included Jason Smyth in 2012 to 2014, 2017 to 2019, and 2021, and Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal in 2016 and 2017.

2010s winners and nominees

The winner is in bold.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Michael Conlan

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020s winners and nominees

The winner is in bold.

2020

2021

Rachael Blackmore

2022

Katie Taylor

2023

Rhys McClenaghan

2024

Young Sportsperson of the Year