Laureus World Sports Awards 2009
OLYMPIC STARS DIBABA, ISINBAYEVA, JINGJING IN LINE FOR NOMINATION FOR LAUREUS SPORTSWOMAN AWARD
• Swimmers Rebecca Adlington, Stephanie Rice, Britta Steffen among hopefuls
• US sweetheart Nastia Liukin, 18, in contention after five gymnastic medals
• Golf’s World No.1 Lorena Ochoa in line for back-to-back Laureus nominations
• Laureus Media Selection Panel to vote for six nominees
• Nominees, venue & date for 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards to be announced on April 16
LONDON, March 18, 2009 – Spectacular performances at the Beijing Olympic Games in August have produced a string of impressive candidates for nomination for the 2009 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award.
The tenth Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during the calendar year 2008, are widely acknowledged as the premier honours on the international sporting calendar. The names of the Nominees, and the venue and date of the 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards will be announced by April 16.
The outstanding displays in track and field during the Olympic Games in Beijing came from Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba, at 23 already one of the greatest female runners of all time, who made Olympic history by becoming the first woman to win the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres double, and Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, who confirmed her status as the greatest female pole vaulter in history when she cleared 5.05 metres to create her 24th world record and win gold.
In the pool, Guo Jingjing, known in China as ‘The Princess of Diving’, won two gold medals to become the most successful woman diver in Olympic history.
Two relative newcomers galvanised Beijing with outstanding swimming performances. Australian Stephanie Rice, 20, won three Olympic gold medals - the 200 and 400 metres individual medley in world record times, plus the 4x200 metres freestyle relay. And Britain’s 19-year-old Rebecca Adlington won two gold medals in the 400 and 800 metres freestyle, where she broke one of the oldest records in sport, beating the 19-year-old mark of American Janet Evans by more than two seconds.
Germany’s Britta Steffen won the blue riband 100 metres freestyle improving her own Olympic record with 53.38 secs. She added a second gold in the 50 metres freestyle.
Nastia Liukin, 18, became America’s sweetheart as she won five medals at the Beijing Olympics - gold in the overall, silver in the asymmetric bars and beam, and bronze in the floor exercise. She also led the Americans to a silver medal in the team competition. Her father, and coach, Valeri was a double gold medallist for the USSR at the Seoul Olympics, her mother Anna was the 1987 World Champion in rhythmic gymnastics.
Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown became only the second woman in history to defend the 200 metres Olympic title, taking the gold medal in a new personal best time of 21.74 secs. For the Australian triathlete Emma Snowsill, 2008 was the perfect season. She won every race she entered, including the Olympic triathlon.
In a year dominated by the Olympic Games, there was one especially noteworthy performance in a non-Olympic sport as the amazing Mexican Lorena Ochoa was once again supreme in golf, and has now fully inherited the crown of the great Annika Sorenstam as World No 1. Despite an influx of talented young golfers from the Far East, Ochoa won seven events in 2008, including the Kraft Nabisco major championship, and she was almost $1m ahead of her nearest challenger on the money list.
In tennis the retirement of World No.1 Justine Henin In May was a major surprise and as a result the four Grand Slam titles were shared out between Maria Sharapova (Australian Open), Ana Ivanovic (French Open), Venus Williams (Wimbledon) and Serena Williams (US Open).
The most impressive win was by Venus Williams, who beat her sister Serena in the final in straight sets to win her fifth Wimbledon. She is only behind Martina Navratilova (9) and Steffi Graf (7) as the most successful Wimbledon singles champion in history. She also won the Olympic doubles gold medal in Beijing, with Serena, for the second time. She has now won more Olympic gold medals than anyone – also winning singles and doubles in Sydney in 2000. Meanwhile despite injury problems earlier in the year, Serena Williams came back to form and won her ninth Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, beating Jelena Jankovi in the final. She also won the Olympic doubles gold medal in Beijing with Venus.
American skier Lindsey Vonn won the overall 2007/08 women’s Alpine World Cup title, and with Bode Miller winning the men’s crown, it gave the United States their first clean sweep in 25 years. She was also the World Cup discipline leader in downhill. Vonn established a new all-time record for most downhill victories by an American with ten, following her win at Crans-Montana on March 8.
When Chrissie Wellington suffered a puncture on the 112m cycle leg of the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, in October, it looked as if her dream of defending her world title had disappeared. She lost ten minutes as she carried out repairs, yet astonishingly, got back on her bike and still managed to finish 15 minutes ahead of her nearest challenge. In 2007, Wellington amazed the ultimate triathlon world when she won the world title less than a year after turning professional.
Captain of England women’s cricket team Charlotte Edwards was voted International Cricket Council Women’s Cricketer of the Year. During the voting period, Edwards opened the batting in 18 One Day Internationals scoring 492 runs for an average of 54.66. She also took 15 wickets at an average of 19.03 with her right arm leg spin. Winning the Ashes in Australia was the highlight of the year.
Laureus World Sports Academy member Nadia Comaneci, who achieved the perfect ten score in gymnastics in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, said: ‘It is always fascinating in an Olympic year to try to pick out which athletes have achieved the most. The Beijing Olympics produced some outstanding performances. I am delighted to see that Nastia Liukin has a good chance of nomination. She is a bright young talent in my own sport of gymnastics. And you have to be amazed at the consistency of Yelena Isinbayeva, who won this Award two years ago. And even though we tend to be focused on the Olympics, we should not ignore the claims of Lorena Ochoa, who has now taken over as golf No.1 from Annika Sorenstam, and the Williams sisters in tennis. It is going to be a very difficult task for the media to chose just six of these great athletes.”
There is a two-part voting process to find the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards. Firstly, a Selection Panel of the world’s leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters from over 130 countries votes to create a shortlist of six nominations in various categories including Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, Laureus World Team of the Year, Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year and Laureus World Comeback of the Year.
The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy then vote by secret ballot to select the Award winners. The Laureus Academy is the ultimate sports jury, made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, who have made an outstanding contribution to world sport.
The Laureus Academy members also vote for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year, the nominations for which are made by specialist panels.
The 2008 Awards Ceremony in St.Petersburg, held in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was attended by global figures from sport, entertainment, business and fashion. In addition to members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, among the guests present were Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, England football coach Fabio Capello, Russian swimming star Alexander Popov, Paralympic ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius and Tour De France winner Alberto Contador. From the world of entertainment there was Kim Cattrall, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Dennis Hopper and Kyle MacLachlan. Among the legends of sport who were present to receive Awards were tennis legends Roger Federer and Justine Henin, British racing driver Lewis Hamiton, wheelchair tennis star Esther Vergeer and members of the South African team, which won the Rugby World Cup.