Dec 29, 2005, 21:29 GMT
New York - Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has been voted as the American Sportsman of the Year for the fourth time in his career.
Picture dated 24 July 2005 shows USA's Lance Armstrong of Discovery Channel Team listening to the anthem on the podium after the 21st and last stage of the 2005 Tour de France cycling race in Paris. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has been voted as the American Sportsman of the Year for the fourth time in his career, Thursday 29 December 2005. EPA/SRDJAN SUKI
Armstrong, who has been battling against doping allegations, won the vote organised by a news agency ahead of American footballers Reggie Bush and Peyton Manning.
Fourth place was shared between Tiger Woods and Swiss tennis star
Roger Federer.
Armstrong described the 2005 season until his retirement after the Tour de France as a dream, but said the second half of the year, during which a French magazine said he had tested positive for blood doping, as a nightmare.
'Luckily the fans saw through these allegations,' he said, adding that his thoughts of coming back next year had been a mistake.
Sweden's golfing sensation Annika Soerenstam won the women's award for the third consecutive time. dpa se adh md
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