A sportsperson (North America: athlete), (gendered as sportsman or sportswoman) is a person trained to compete in a sport involving physical strength, speed or endurance. Sports people may be professional or amateur.

Most professional sports people have particularly well-developed physiques obtained by extensive physical training and strict exercise accompanied by a strict dietary regimen.

The word "athlete" is a romanization of the άθλητὴς, athlētēs, one who participates in a contest; from ἂθλος, áthlos, or ἂθλον, áthlon, a contest or feat. The term may be used as a synonym for sportspeople in general, but it also has stronger connotations of people who compete in athletic sports, as opposed to other sporting types such as horse riding and driving. In British English (as well as other variants in the Commonwealth) athlete can also have a more specific meaning of people who compete in the sport of athletics.