Former German tennis player Boris Becker (right) and his wife Lilly Kerssenberg arrive for the Laureus Sports Awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. CENTRE: Sebastian Coe, chairman of the organising committee for the London Olympics, poses with his Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award. RIGHT: Brazilian Paralympic star Daniel Dias poses with his second Laureus Disability Award of the Year. Dias won six gold medals, all in world record times at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
RIO DE JANEIRO: Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and British heptathlete Jessica Ennis won the Laureus World Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards yesterday following their success at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The team of the year award went to Europe’s Ryder Cup team after their stunning victory over the United States at Medinah last September.
Bolt, who also won the award in 2009 and 2010, won gold in the 100, 200 and 4x100 metres relay in London to repeat his medal haul from Beijing. He was not there in person to receive the award at Rio’s Theatro Municpal but appeared via a hologram.
Wearing a suit and tie and holding the trophy in his hands, Bolt promised to defend his Olympic titles at the 2016 Rio Games.
“Definitely I will be here in 2016,” he said.
Also nominated for the award was American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won four gold and two silver medals in London to become the most decorated Olympian of all time.
Phelps was given a new award for Exceptional Achievement, which he collected at the gala ceremony in the 2016 Olympics host city just hours after participating in a swimming class for children at a Rio slum.
“Being able to be given an award from athletes who are icons in their sports, it’s just a tremendous honour,” Phelps said at a news conference. “My life just keeps getting better and better.”
Also nominated for the top sportsman award were British Olympic champions Mo Farah and Bradley Wiggins, Formula 1 triple world champion Sebastian Vettel and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Great Britain won three prizes with Ennis, Andy Murray and Sebastian Coe.
Ennis dominated the Olympic heptathlon and won the gold medal despite carrying the enormous pressure of home hopes at the Olympic stadium, while Murray won the breakthrough award after winning his first grand slam at the US Open as well as Olympic gold and silver medals in London.
Coe, the chairman of the Organising Committee of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and also a Laureus World Sports Academy Member, received the lifetime achievement award.
Dominican Republic’s Felix Sanchez received the comeback of the year award after winning the Olympic 400 metres hurdles gold medal in London, eight years after winning it for the first time in Athens.
Vicente del Bosque, one of the most successful managers in the history of football, has been welcomed into the Laureus family as a Laureus Ambassador.
Del Bosque was present at a press conference to hear German football legend Franz Beckenbauer applaud the Spain football team that lifted the World Cup in 2010 and became the first side to win successive European Championships in 2008 and 2012.
Like Beckenbauer, del Bosque enjoyed a triumphant career as a player before turning his expertise to coaching and managing.
In over 300 appearances for Real Madrid he won five domestic La Liga titles between 1975 and 1980, and also received 18 caps playing for Spain.
But it was as a manager that del Bosque transformed Real Madrid into one of the most powerful sides in European club football.
Under his leadership, Real won two UEFA Champions League titles, two La Liga championships, the Spanish Supercup, and the UEFA Super Cup.
It was inevitable that del Bosque would be persuaded to take charge of the Spanish national side and he proved an immediate success, becoming the first manager in football history to win his first 10 international games.
Spain, under del Bosque, went on to win the World Cup for the first time in 2010, and last year in June, the team successfully defended their European Championship.
Del Bosque was voted the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year and now he has received the honour of becoming a Laureus Ambassador.
On his nomination, del Bosque said: “In terms of clubs and players, Spain is very well off at the moment. The last few years have been good for us, we have played with a lot of strength and fire. We are very proud to be champions of Europe and the World.”
AGENCIES
