DAPHNE — Chinese sculptor Yuan Xikun has been named the United States Sports Academy’s Sports Artist of the Year 2008 in the sculpture category. The academy will host an art show on Aug. 7 to honor Xikun at the Jintai Art Museum in Bejing prior to the 2008 Olympic Games.

“I am extremely honored to receive this award from the prestigious United States Sports Academy,” said Xikun. “This honor will motivate me to continue creating sculptures that unite cultures through sports.”

Known as a portrait diplomat, Xikun has depicted more than 200 heads of international organizations, including face-to-face renderings of political and social celebrities such as former United Nation Secretary Gen. Kofi Annan, former United States President Bill Clinton, Cuban President Fidel Castro, former South African President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and International Olympic Committee Honorary Life President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Following the announcement that China would host the 2008 Olympics, Xikun launched a project titled the 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture Designs Contest.

“Mr. Yuan Xikun’s important contributions have combined art and the Olympics,” said Samaranch. “It is significant for sports to promote the development of culture.”

Born into a family of traditional Chinese painters, Xikun built the Jintai Art Museum as a venue of frequent gathering for political visitors to China. It is a platform for bringing together western and Chinese cultures. The museum features five-pyramidal roofs that symbolize metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

“Painting infuses sculpture with new blood and sculpture is a succession of painting,” said Xikun, whose sculptures resonate with classicism, romanticism and realism.

In respect to the traditions of China, as the host the 2008 Olympic Games, the academy is expanding its traditional Sport Artist of the Year award to include a painter, a calligrapher and a sculptor.

The academy, home to the American Sport Art Museum and Archives, is dedicated to the collection, display and preservation of sports history, art and literature. Since its inception, ASAMA has recognized the importance of the cultural connectivity of athletic competition and artistic expression.

The Sport Artist of the Year award has been presented by ASAMA for a quarter of a century as part of the academy’s Awards of Sport program, honoring the artist and the athlete. Past recipients include Ernie Barnes, Charles Billich, Hans Erni, LeRoy Neiman and Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki. To learn more, visit http://www.asama.org/awards/sportartists.