US lifestyle Company, best known for its fashionable sports-oriented sunglasses Oakley Inc announced that two of the company's sponsored athletes, Lance Armstrong and Annika Sorenstam, have been named 2005 Athletes of the Year by the Associated Press.
This is a repeat honor as Armstrong and Sorenstam also won the award for 2004.
'Lance and Annika have set milestones that will continue to inspire generations of sports competitors and enthusiasts for years to come,' said Scott Bowers, Vice President of worldwide marketing, Oakley Inc 'Lance has been part of the Oakley family for more than 20 years, and Annika, more than a decade.
They could not have developed breakthroughs like Oakley High Definition Optics (HDO) without the ongoing guidance and inspiration of these athletes - they salute the dedication and hard work that earned them the right to be called icons of sports.'
Armstrong, cancer survivor and champion cyclist, won his seventh consecutive Tour de France in July 2005.
'Professionally and personally, Oakley and he has had a long history together.
Having the dream to compete at the levels He's been able to and go out at the top of his sport has been an amazing experience,' said Lance Armstrong.
The careers of both competitors have paralleled the rise of Oakley as a world brand, and the company makes no secret of the fact that its breakthroughs in performance technology would not have been achieved without the impossible demands of professional athletes.
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