Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel and two-time Olympic champion Maria Riesch were crowned as the German Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year for 2010.
Vettel, who became the youngest world champion in Formula One history in a dramatic final race in Abu Dhabi, is the second German Formula One champion after Michael Schumacher to win the award.
The Red Bull driver won comfortably with 4,288 votes, ahead of table tennis player Timo Boll. Martin Kaymer, who became the second German after Bernhard Langer to win a golfing major, was third.
Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was the best-placed footballer in 19th place.
Riesch, who won gold in the slalom and in the combined in Vancouver, edged out biathlon star Magdalena Neuner, who won two golds and a silver in Canada. Riesch had 3,957 votes, just 36 votes ahead of Neuner, who won the award in 2007.
The German national football team, which finished third at the World Cup earlier this year in South Africa, was named Team of the Year.
It was the ninth time that the national team was chosen as the top team of the year. The team beat the German men’s eight rowing team and the national ice hockey team into second and third place. Some 1,500 sport journalists voted for the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year.
