Laureus Spirit of Sport Award | |
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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] |
Location | Berlin (2020) [2] |
Presented by | Laureus Sport for Good Foundation |
First awarded | 2005 |
Currently held by | Not 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 [update] , 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]
† | Indicates posthumous award |
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Year | Image | Winner | Nationality | Sport | Notes | Ref |
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2005 | Boston Red Sox | 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 | ITA | MotoGP | Rossi won his fifth straight MotoGP Championship. | [11] | |
2007 | FC Barcelona | 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 | CAN | Administration | President of the World Anti-Doping Agency for eight years | [13] | |
2009 | No award | [14] | ||||
2010 | No award | [15] | ||||
2011 | — | European Ryder Cup Team | Europe | Golf | Europe retained the Ryder Cup over Team USA with a win in the final pairing. | [16] |
2012 | No award | [17] | ||||
2013 | No award | [18] | ||||
2014 | Afghanistan national cricket team | 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 | CHN | Basketball | Huge increase in popularity of basketball in China as a result of his NBA career | [20] | |
2016 | Johan Cruyff † | NED | Football | Posthumous award to "legendary" footballer and coach | [21] | |
2017 | Leicester City F.C. | ENG | Football | Winning the Premier League by ten points despite being 5,000 to 1 outsiders | [22] | |
2018 | No award | [8] | ||||
2019 | Lindsey Vonn | USA | Alpine skiing | [9] | ||
2020 | No award | [2] |
The BBC World Sport Star of the Year is an award presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. The award is presented to a non-British sportsperson considered to have made the most substantial contribution to a sport in that year. The award was decided by a panel of over 30 sporting journalists. Each panellist voted for their top two choices; their first preference was awarded two points, and their second preference was awarded one point. The winning sportsperson had the most total points. In the case of a points tie, the sportsperson chosen as first preference by the most panellists is the winner. If this is also a tie the award is shared. In 2015 the public voted for this award.
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