Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was crowned Sports Personality of the Century at the BBC's final sporting awards ceremony of the millennium Sunday evening.

Ali, now 57, was world heavyweight champion three times during his remarkable sporting career.

The man born Cassius Clay, who is now battling against Parkinson's Disease, will always be remembered for the dazzling boxing skills and extraordinary self-belief he exhibited both in and out of the ring.

Ali's challengers included Pele, Brazil's two-times World Cup winner and scorer of more than 1,200 goals in his career, Australian cricket batsman Don Bradman, whose Test match career average of 99.94 is more than 30 runs more than any other player in history, was another strong contender.

Black American athlete Jesse Owens, who took four gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and Mark Spitz, winner of seven swimming golds at the 1972 Munich Olympics, were also in the running.

German tennis player Boris Becker, giant New Zealand rugby union wing Jonah Lomu and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson -together with his Treble-winning squad - were among a galaxy of stars who attended the event.