The award recognises the overseas athlete who has made the most contribution to sport this year and will be presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony on December 20.
For the first time in the history of the annual awards, the UK public is being invited to cast their votes to decide on the overseas athlete of the year.
Athletes competing for the award are Usain Bolt (athletics) Jamaica, Dan Carter (rugby union) New Zealand, Novak Djokovic (tennis) Serbia, Katie Ledecky (swimming) USA, Jordan Spieth (golf) USA, and Serena Williams (tennis) USA.
Just last week, Bolt missed out on The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) male athlete of the year award for 2015.
However Bolt has won the award 5 times before.