Colorado Springs, CO (My Sportsbook) - Superstar swimmer Michael Phelps has been selected as the 2008 Sportsman of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee.

Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last summer, was joined on the 2008 USOC honor roll by swimmer Natalie Coughlin, gymnast Nastia Liukin, paralympic swimmer Erin Popovich and the U.S. men's national volleyball team.

Coughlin and Liukin shared the Sportswoman of the Year honors, while Popovich was selected as the Paralympian of the Year. The men's volleyball squad captured the Team of the Year award.

"Through their actions both on and off the field of play in Beijing and throughout 2008, these athletes truly represent the best of what the United States has to offer and make us all proud to be Americans," said USOC Chief Executive Officer Jim Scherr. "Their achievements were central to the narrative of the largest Modern Olympic and Paralympic Games in history, and we at the USOC are proud to announce this year's recipients of SportsMan, SportsWoman, Paralympian and Team of the Year."

Phelps, of course, set a single Olympics record with his gold medal haul in China -- setting seven world records, eight American records and eight Olympic records in the process. He increased his overall total to 16 Olympic medals, including 14 gold, to distinguish himself as the most decorated male Olympian of all time.

This marks his second USOC Sportsman of the Year award, as he previously won in 2004.

Coughlin set five American records and one Olympic record on her way to becoming the first American woman in any Olympic sport to win six medals in a single Olympiad. She earned a gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke; silver medals in the 400-meter freestyle relay and 400-meter medley relay; and bronze medals in the 200-meter individual medley, 100-meter freestyle and 800-meter free relay.

Liukin captured five medals in Beijing, including gold in the all-around to become just the third U.S. woman to capture the all-around Olympic title. She added three silver for team, balance beam and uneven bars, plus a bronze for floor exercise to tie the U.S. gymnastics record of five medals at one Olympic Games set by Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and matched by Shannon Miller in 1992.

Popovich, at her third Paralympic Games this past summer in Beijing, collected four gold medals and two silver, and brought her career total to 14 gold medals and five silver medals. She was also the 2004 USOC Paralympian of the Year.

The men's volleyball team did not lose a match during the Beijing Olympics on the way to the first gold medal for the squad since 1988. The team's victory in Beijing capped an emotional Olympic Games for head coach Hugh McCutcheon, whose father-in-law was attacked and killed in Beijing shortly after the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Games.

The USOC Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards have been presented annually since 1974 to the top overall male and female athlete from within the USOC member organizations. The team award was added in 1996, and the Paralympian of the Year was awarded for the first time in 2004.