The Worlds Best ? The Laureus Sports Awards (2007 Nominations)

In 1999, the Laureus foundation was established to recognize the achievements of sportspersons and teams on a world scale. The Laureus foundation consists of retired sporting greats (42 as of 2007), who then vote on categories such as Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year and Team of the Year. Other awards, Alternative Sportsperson of the Year and Sportsperson with a Disability of the Year, are judged by experts in those particular fields.

This year the awards will be held on April 1-2, in Barcelona Spain. As of now, the nominees have not been announced.

In the build up to these awards, this thread will discuss the previous winners and nominees, as well as the judging panel of sports greats.

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(Winner in Bold)

[b]Year 2000[/b]

[u]Sportsman of the Year [/u]

[b]Tiger Woods (USA ? Golf)[/b]
Andre Agassi (USA ? Tennis)
Maurice Greene (USA ? Athletics)

[u]Sportswoman of the Year[/u]

[b]Marion Jones (USA ? Athletics)[/b]
Lindsay Davenport (USA ? Tennis)
Gabriela Szabo (Romania ? Athletics)

[u]Team of the Year[/u]

[b]Manchester United (England ? Football)[/b]
Australian Rugby Union Team (Australia ? Rugby Union)
United States Woman?s Football Team (USA ? Football)

[u]Newcomer of the Year[/u]

[b]Sergio Garcia (Spain ? Golf)[/b]
Kurt Warner (USA ? American Football)
Serena Williams (USA ? Tennis)

[u]Sportsperson with a Disability[/u]

[b]Louise Savage (Australia ? Athletics)[/b] (No other nominees listed)

[u]Alternative Sportsperson of the Year[/u]

[b]Shaun Palmer (USA ? Winter X-Games)[/b] (No other Nominees Listed)

[u]Lifetime Achievement Award[/u]

[b]Pele (Brazil ? Football)[/b]

[u]Sport for Good Award[/u]

[b]Eunice Kennedy Shriver[/b]


[i]You can discuss winners and nominees based on their achievements in that year, or as a retrospective look back on how their careers have progressed.[/i]

 

Who were the other winners of the lifetime achievement award?

 

They only do one a year, apparently.

 

Is this the treble year? I don't think you can argue with Man U for the team award if so. That's quite an achievement.

 

I think it was (or it might have been the year before)

Looking back, you have to wonder about Marion Jones. She had an awesome Olympics that year (although it was after the awards IIRC), but she's tainted by drugs scandals now.

Garcia has also never realised his potential IMO, whereas Serena Williams has (don't know who Kurt Warner is )

 

don't know who Kurt Warner is

He's a serviceable enough quarterback, but certainly not one of the greats.

 

I meant for the other years the awards have been handed out. I was just curious.

 

Oh. I'm getting to those.

I plan to do one year a week, which will hopefully take us up to the week leading up to the awards, where we can speculate on the nominees.

 

Jones is definitely tainted, as is Maurice Green.

Garcia over Serena seems almost silly in retrosepect. Kurt Warner had a spectacular, cinderella year, winning the Super Bowl with the St Louis Rams. He had a few excellent years after that, but hurt his thumb on his throwing hand, never really recovered.

 

Kurt Warner's 1999-2000 season was one of the more remarkable underdog stories in American sports history. From wikipedia:

He was cut in training camp by Green Bay in 1994, and then had a workout with the Chicago Bears fall through due to a spider bite he got on his honeymoon. After being cut by the Packers, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee supermarket in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He was a starter with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and then continued to the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe before ultimately signing with the Rams as a backup to Trent Green.

After Green was injured in the 1999 pre-season and would miss the regular season, many speculated that the season was over for St. Louis. However, the Rams ? and Warner in particular ? lit up defenses throughout the league. Warner threw 41 touchdown passes, setting a new franchise mark, and his 109.2 quarterback rating was the second highest (for a minimum of 200 attempts) in a season next to Steve Young.

He would go on to win the league MVP, Super Bowl and Super Bowl MVP award. He'd have 2 more terrific seasons, winning another league MVP and leading the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2001 (this time losing). As mentioned previously, injuries would catch up with him after 3 seasons, but he's still a solid quarterback today.

 

Year 2001

(Winner in Bold)

Sportsman of the Year

Tiger Woods (USA ? Golf)
Steven Redgrave (UK ? Rowing)
Michael Schumacher (Germany ? F1)
Ian Thorpe (Australia ? Swimming)
Pieter van den Hoogenband (The Netherlands ? Swimming)

Sportswoman of the Year

Cathy Freeman (Australia ? Athletics)
Inge de Bruijn (The Netherlands ? Swimming)
Marion Jones (USA ? Athletics)
Karrie Webb (Australia ? Golf)
Venus Williams (USA ? Tennis)

Team of the Year

France Men?s Football Team (France ? Football)
Australian Men?s Cricket Team (Australia ? Cricket)
Cameroon Olympic Football Team (Cameroon ? Football)
New York Yankees (USA ? Baseball)
Real Madrid (Spain ? Football)

Newcomer of the Year

Marat Safin (Russia - Tennis)
Aaron Baddeley (Australia ? Golf)
Jenson Button (UK ? F1)
Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain ? Tennis)
Brett Lee (Australia ? Cricket)

Sportsperson with a Disability

Vinnie Lauers (Australia ? Yachting) (No other nominees listed)

Alternative Sportsperson of the Year

Mike Horn (South Africa ? Sailing) (No other Nominees Listed)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Sir Steve Redgrave (UK ? Rowing))

Sport for Good Award

Kip Keino (Kenya ? Running)

 

The Nominations for the 2007 awards are

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year

Fernando Alonso (Spain) ? second straight winner of the Formula One World Championship
Fabio Cannavaro (Italy) ? captain of Italy?s FIFA World Cup winning team
Roger Federer (Switzerland) ? winner of three Grand Slam tennis events
Asafa Powell (Jamaica) ? fastest sprinter in the world
Michael Schumacher (Germany) - retired after seven Formula One World Championships
Tiger Woods (US) ? winner of Open Championship and US PGA golf majors

Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year

Justine Henin (Belgium) ? winner of French Open Grand Slam tennis championship
Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia) ? winner of European Championship pole vault gold medal
Carolina Kluft (Sweden) ? winner of European Championship heptathlon gold medal
Laure Manaudou (France) ? winner of four gold medals in European Swimming Championships
Amélie Mauresmo (France) ? winner of Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis championship
Maria Sharapova (Russia) ? winner of US Open Grand Slam tennis championship

Laureus World Team of the Year

All Blacks Rugby Team (New Zealand) ? winners of record seventh Tri-Nations Championship
FC Barcelona (Spain) ? winners of UEFA Champions League and Spanish League and Cup double
European Ryder Cup Team ? record-equalling win over the United States at K Club, Dublin
Italy Men?s Football Team ? winners of the FIFA World Cup for the fourth time
Renault Formula One Team (France) ? Constructors World Champions for second straight time
Spanish Basketball Team ? won the basketball World Cup for the first time

Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year

Xavier Carter (US) ? aged 20, ran second fastest 200 metres ever, and won four NCAA titles
Ghana Men?s Football Team ? qualified for FIFA World Cup finals and reached last 16
Lewis Hamilton (UK) - aged 22, became first black driver to compete in Formula One
Amélie Mauresmo (France) ? won her first Grand Slam tennis tournaments after limited success
Britta Steffen (Germany) ? won four gold medals in European Swimming Championships
Mia Xiaoxu (China) ? aged 18, won Golden Ball and Shoe in FIFA Under 20 World Championship

Laureus World Comeback of the Year

Drew Brees (US) ? led New Orleans Saints to NFC Championship game after serious injury
Ben Curtis (US) ? winner of first golf tournament since 2003 Open Championship
Roy Jones Jr (US) ? came back to ring at 37 to win NABO light-heavyweight title
Miami Heat (US) ? fought back to win NBA Finals after losing first two games
Serena Williams (US) ? slipped out of top 100 through injury, but came back to win Australian Open
Zinedine Zidane (France) ? returned from retirement to captain France to final of FIFA World Cup

Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Martin Braxenthaler (Germany) ? won three golds in Alpine mono-skiing in Winter Paralympics
Kurt Fearnley (Australia) ? won New York Marathon wheelchair race, breaking course record
Edith Hunkeler (Switzerland) ? won three golds in wheelchair racing at World Championships
Javier Otxoa (Spain) ? Tour de France star who returned to cycle racing after car crash
Kazem Rajabi Golojeh (Iran) ? broke two powerlifting world records in 2006
Esther Vergeer (Netherlands) ? wheelchair tennis player unbeaten in three years

Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year

Aaron Hadlow (UK ? aged 17, won PKRA kiteboarding world tour for third time
Travis Pastrana (US) ? motocross star, won three Summer X Games gold medals
Kevin Pritchard (US) ? won windsurfing Wave World Championship
Gisela Pulido (Spain) ? aged 12, won a PKRA kiteboarding event, beating the world champion
Kelly Slater (US) ? won an unprecedented eighth world surfing championship at 34
Hannah Teter (US) ? won ESPY award for Best Action Sports Female Athlete
Shaun White (US) ? competed in and won 12 snowboarding events in 2006

 

Good luck to the voters trying to choose between Tiger and Federer in the men's category. Give it to both of them.

Rest of the categories are a bit ho-hum, no really dominating person/team in any of them. I'd give Barca the team award, for the first half of the year they were not only dominent, but beautiful to watch.

 

Being more of a Tennis fan than a Golf fan, I'd have to say Federer, but it could go either way IMO

I don't understand why each winner of a Tennis grand slam got nominated in the Sportswoman category. I'd personally give it to Manaudou, but I'm not really excited over that category. I'd also give Britta Steffan the breakthough award for her amazing improvement in the last 24 months.

 

The Mauresmo "breakthrough" was a bit of a farce. She's been #1 off and on for a while, finally managed to win a slam, has since gone back to her good but not great self, always near the top of the rankings, but never dominent.