Awards for American sprint stars

Ruud Gullit on the stage with Luis Figo

Five-time Olympic Gold medal winner Sir Steve Redgrave missed out on an honour at the World Sports Awards on Tuesday.

Nominated in the watersports category at the event at London's Royal Albert Hall, Britain's recently knighted rowing legend lost out to Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband.

Earlier in the night, American gold medallists Marion Jones and Michael Johnson were both honoured.

Jones, the Olympic 100 and 200m champion, picked up the women's track and field award, while Johnson, 400m winner in Sydney, took the men's equivalent for an American double.

  Male winners

Track and Field: Michael Johnson

Ball Sports: Tiger Woods

Football: Luis Figo

Motor Sports: Michael Schumacher

Combat Sports: Lennox Lewis

Water Sports: Pieter van den Hoogenband

Winter Sports: Hermann Maier

Athletics: Alexei Nemov

Extreme Sports: Miguel Martinez

Honorary Award: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Redgrave, however, was pipped for the second time by van den Hoogenband, who also beat him to a European Sports Writers Union award last month.

On receiving the award, the Dutchman apologised to Redgrave, who seemed relatively unfazed by the snub.

Afterwards, the winner said of Redgrave: "I can only say I really respect him. He's a great sportsman."

Portugal's Luis Figo, the most expensive player in the world, was named World Sport's Footballer of the Year.

The European Player of the Year claimed he would like to feature in the Premiership one day.

"I would like to play in England, but I can't talk about my future at the moment," he said. "As a footballer you can't look too far ahead."

De Bruijn completed a Dutch double

Another Dutch swimmer won the women's watersports category. Inge de Bruijn followed van den Hoogenband onto the stage to be honoured for her three gold medals in Sydney.

Lennox Lewis received his Best Combat Sports Award from Olympic gold medallist, and a man hoping to emulate him - fellow British heavyweight Audley Harrison.

Afterwards, Lewis - who told BBC Sport Online he wanted to fight Mike Tyson to "clean up boxing" - said he felt very proud.

"It's a great honour. I'm really happy about it, and it's a real achievement," said the fighter.

The world's number one golfer Tiger Woods won the men's Ball Sports award, while fellow American, tennis player Venus Williams took the women's equivalent.

  Female Awards

Track and Field: Marion Jones

Ball Sports: Venus Williams

Water Sports: Inge de Bruijn

Winter Sports: Renate Gotschl

Athletics: Simona Amanar

Extreme Sports: Paola Pezzo

In Extreme and Adventure sports, French mountain biker Miguel Martinez, triumphed, while fellow mountain biker, Paola Pezzo from Italy won the women's category.

The final award of the night, was perhaps a surprise to many, with the Honorary Award going to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his charitable work.

Boxing legend Mohammad Ali collected the award on behalf of the Hollywood star.

The night was rounded off by a performance from the 'All-Star band', led by Bryan Adams, supported by sport stars including John McEnroe, Colin Jackson, Damon Hill and Eddie Jordan.