Laureus Spirit of Sport Award

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Laureus Spirit of Sport Award
Awarded for"those individual athletes or teams who, through their remarkable success, their refusal to accept defeat or their unquestionable contribution to the enjoyment of the game" [1]
LocationBerlin (2020) [2]
Presented byLaureus Sport for Good Foundation
First awarded2005
Currently held byNot awarded [2]
Website Official website

The Laureus Spirit of Sport Award is an award honouring "those individual athletes or teams who, through their remarkable success, their refusal to accept defeat or their unquestionable contribution to the enjoyment of the game". [1] It was first awarded in 2005 as one of the discretionary awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards. [3] The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. [4] The first ceremony was held on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, at which Nelson Mandela gave the keynote speech. [5] The recipient is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. [6] Although the Laureus Awards ceremony is held annually, the Spirit of Sport Award is not necessarily presented every time; it is one of a number of discretionary awards that can be given by the Laureus World Sports Academy. [3] Since its establishment, no award has been made six times, in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2020.

The inaugural winner of the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award in 2005 was the American baseball team Boston Red Sox who won their first World Series for 86 years in the 2004 Major League Baseball season. As of 2017, five teams and four individuals have received the award. One of these individuals was honoured posthumously: Dutch former footballer and coach Johan Cruyff won the accolade in 2016, having died the previous month; his award was presented to his son Jordi Cruyff by fellow Dutchman Ruud Gullit at the ceremony in Berlin. [7] No award was made in 2020; [2] [8] the most recent recipient of the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award was the American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn in 2019. [9]

Recipients

Key
Indicates posthumous award
Laureus Spirit of Sport Award recipients
YearImageWinnerNationalitySportNotesRef
2005 Boston Red Sox George W. Bush 2005.jpg Boston Red Sox Flag of the United States.svg  USA Baseball The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, capturing their first championship in 86 years. [10]
2006 Valentino Rossi 02.jpg Valentino Rossi Flag of Italy.svg  ITA MotoGP Rossi won his fifth straight MotoGP Championship. [11]
2007 FC Barcelona 2007 cropped.jpg FC Barcelona Flag of Spain.svg  ESP Football Agreement with UNICEF to fund support to children's AIDS-related programmes, and to display charity's name on their shirts [12]
2008 Dick Pound.jpg Dick Pound Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  CAN Administration President of the World Anti-Doping Agency for eight years [13]
2009 [14]
2010 [15]
2011 European Ryder Cup Team Flag of Europe.svg  Europe Golf Europe retained the Ryder Cup over Team USA with a win in the final pairing. [16]
2012 [17]
2013 [18]
2014 Afghanistan national cricket team.jpg Afghanistan national cricket team Flag of the Taliban.svg  AFG Cricket "In recognition of their swift rise in world cricket and their maiden qualification to the one-day World Cup" [19]
2015 Yao Ming in 2014.jpg Yao Ming Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  CHN Basketball Huge increase in popularity of basketball in China as a result of his NBA career [20]
2016 Johan Cruijff 2013 Catalonia.jpg Johan Cruyff Flag of the Netherlands.svg  NED Football Posthumous award to "legendary" footballer and coach [21]
2017 LCFC lift the Premier League Trophy (26943755296) (cropped).jpg Leicester City F.C. Flag of England.svg  ENG Football Winning the Premier League by ten points despite being 5,000 to 1 outsiders [22]
2018 [8]
2019 2017 Audi FIS Ski Weltcup Garmisch-Partenkirchen Damen - Lindsey Vonn - by 2eight - 8SC8048.jpg Lindsey Vonn Flag of the United States.svg  USA Alpine skiing [9]
2020 [2]

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References

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