Australian Olympic swimming star Stephanie Rice, cyclist Anna Meares, golfing great Greg Norman and surfer Stephanie Gilmore are all in contention for honours at the 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards.

Rice was nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award after winning three gold medals in Beijing last year.

Meares and Norman will go head-to-head for the World Comeback of the Year Award. The cyclist was nominated for her comeback from a broken neck to win an Olympic silver medal and the veteran golfer after going close to winning the 2008 British Open despite not playing in a major championship for three years.

Norman, 53, eventually finished in a tie for third behind winner Padraig Harrington.

Gilmore, the first surfer - male or female - to win the ASP world title in their rookie season in 2007, repeated her victory in 2008. She was nominated in the Action Sportsperson of the Year category.

Laureus World Sports Academy member Steve Waugh praised Australia's nominees.

"Stephanie Rice was one of the outstanding performers in Beijing," the former Australian cricket captain said. "We all admire Anna for the inner strength she showed to come back after such a bad accident, Greg has been someone we have all respected for so many years and I am sure Stephanie Gilmore is going to have a phenomenal future."

Rice won the 200m and 400m individual medley, setting world records in both, and the 4x200m freestyle relay. She set five world records in total in a stellar 2008.

Other nominees in her category include Tirunesh Dibaba, the first woman to win the 5,000m and 10,000m double at the same Olympics and pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who created her 24th world record to win gold in Beijing.

Meares won silver behind Britain's Victoria Pendleton in the women's sprint just eight months after breaking her neck in a horrific crash at the track cycling world cup in Los Angeles.

Norman was still on his honeymoon with tennis great Chris Evert, and only playing golf part-time when he found himself with a two-shot lead going into the final round at Birkdale in July.

In the comeback category, Meares and Norman will have to contend with American golfer Tiger Woods, who returned two months after serious knee injury to win US Open golf championship.

The awards, in their 10th edition, recognise sporting achievement during the 2008 calendar year and are regarded as the Oscars of sport.

A panel of leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters from 112 countries voted to create lists of six nominations in each category.

The Laureus World Sports Academy, comprising 46 sporting greats including Australians Waugh, Dawn Fraser and Cathy Freeman select the winners by secret ballot.

Among the nominations for Sportsman of the Year are Usain Bolt, winner of the 100m, 200m and 4x100m Olympic titles in world record times, and swimmer Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals in Beijing.

AAP