From the Olympics stage to the race track, our athletes and trainers dominated their sporting scenes.

We've compiled a shortlist to vote for your favourite from 2021.

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An Olympics medal and silverware in England may have eluded her, but Caitlin Foord's year is still to be celebrated.

Foord played in Arsenal's FA Cup final loss to Matildas teammate Sam Kerr's Chelsea, after they were both part of the Australian Tokyo campaign where they were beaten by the US in the bronze-medal playoff.

A regular in the Mercury sportsperson of the year voting, Foord is still only 27, as she aims towards a fourth World Cup on home soil in 2023.

The GOAT.

With 800 NBL games in his career as player and coach, Brian Goorjian delivered Australia a long-awaited Olympics medal, with bronze in Tokyo.

He also took the Illawarra Hawks to the playoffs in his first season in charge, returning for another shot at the title in 2021-22.

Goorjian was also instrumental in having the Illawarra name return to the Hawks under new ownership after the club collapsed.

So close to gold for Blake Govers and Flynn Ogilvie, but still so much to be proud of.

The Kookaburras fell at the final hurdle, in a penalty shoot-out loss to Belgium after a dramatic final at the Tokyo Olympics.

But silver remains a remarkable result and erases the disappointment of Rio de Janeiro four years early.

Making an Olympics final is an extraordinary achievement in its own right, but it also came in a year where Albion Park's Jessica Hull set a new Australian record.

Hull was 11^th in the Tokyo final which also featured fellow Australian Linden Hall, who was sixth.

It came after setting a sizzling new national mark of 3:58.81 in the semi-final to qualify.

The new GOAT.

Emma McKeon came into the Tokyo Games will a stunning medal record and left as the greatest Australian Olympics medallist and a dual individual champion in her own right.

McKeon won the 50m and 100m freestyle finals, to walk away with four gold and three bronze for the meeting, 11 in her two-Olympics career, the greatest haul in national history, as well as fourteen medals at this year's World Cup, including ten gold medals.

Four wins is an amazing achievement in any preparation, but for Kerry Parker and Think It Over, it was a dream come true.

COVID restrictions ruined Parker's plans to go to the Cox Plate in Melbourne, but instead he won the Chelmsford Stakes and Hill Stakes, defended the Craven Plate crown and then claimed a $1 million bonus by taking out the Rosehill Gold Cup.

The dominant spring came after Think It Over celebrated Group 1 glory by winning the George Ryder in March.

Think It Over now has more than $4,200,000 in prizemoney and has matched it with the best horses in the country, including Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant.

Second in the now $8 million Golden Eagle, the Prices became hometown heroes when they won the $1 million The Gong at Kembla Grange with Count De Rupee.

If they win, this award can also be a reward for Brock Ryan, who finished his apprenticeship after riding Count De Rupee in both races.

Father Robert and son Luke also produced Jamaea, who took out the Group 2 Furious Stakes, with Ryan aboard in September.

A third medal at a third Olympics for Berry horseman Shane Rose.

Rose was part of the Australian team eventing competition which took home silver in Tokyo, adding to a silver in Beijing and bronze in Rio de Janeiro.

He was 10^th overall in the individual event, then ranked second in both the jumping and cross country disciplines behind Great Britain, when teaming up with Andrew Hoy and Kevin McNab.

It might have been a year to forget for St George Illawarra, but powerful second-rower Tariq Sims delivered on the State of Origin stage.

Sims was a standout in NSW's 2-1 series win, which was wrapped up in the first two games by a margin of 76-6.

The victorious campaign included a remarkable pass in a tackle to winger Brian To'o to score.

Former Wollongong athletics talent James Turner cemented his legacy as one of Australia's Paralympics greats, with gold and silver in Tokyo.

Turner won the 400m T36 final in a Games record time of 52.80, his second gold after 800m success in Rio in 2016.

And while he was initially disappointed in being beaten in the 100m event, Turner still claimed silver.

A unanimous decision ensured Alex Volkanovski retained his UFC featherweight title, against arch-rival Brian Ortega.

It was Volkanovski's 20^th straight win in the octagon and cemented his legacy as both an international superstar and the Illawarra's greatest ever fighter.

Volkanovski also had to fight off a career and potentially life-threatening bout of COVID before delivering another victory over Ortega.

It was a moment of pure joy as Owen Wright celebrated Australia's first-ever Olympics surfing medal in Japan this year.

Wright had been edged out in the semi-final by Brazil's Italo Ferreira, who went on to win gold, but recovered in the bronze medal showdown to defeat fellow World Surf League star Gabriel Medina by 11.97 to 11.77.

It was an emotional moment for Wright, who struggled with a major head injury after a surfing incident in 2016.

Adam Zampa confirmed his status as one of the best white-ball spinners in the world when he played a crucial role in Australia's victory at the Twenty20 World Cup.

The Warilla talent finished with 13 wickets and an economy rate of just 5.81 runs an over. Zampa enjoyed career best figures of 5-19 in Australia's win over Bangladesh and claimed a crucial wicket in the final.

Back home, Zampa is now looking to lead the Melbourne Stars to their first Big Bash title.

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