The athletes were nominated after all finishing amongst the medals at their sports' respective World Championships during 2014.

Topping the list is double gold medal winning equestrian rider Michèle George.

George took gold in both the individual test and freestyle events at the International Equestrian Federation's (FEI) flagship event, the Alltech 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France, to compliment the double gold she secured at London 2012.

She will be up against the Belgian table tennis team of Marc Ledoux, Loicq Mathieu and Ben Despineux, winners of the the bronze medal at the 2014 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Para Table Tennis World Championships in Beijing in the men's class 8 category.

Also up for the award is 17-year-old table tennis star Florian Van Acker, who took bronze in the men's class 11 category of the World Championships.

Rounding off the quartet is cyclist Diederick Schelfhout, a bronze medallist in the C3 1,000 metres time trial at the International Cycling Union's (UCI) Track World Championships in Agauscalientes, Mexico.

The winner of the award is due to be named at a Gala Sports Dinner next month. 

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