POSTED: Sunday December 19th 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GERMAN WORLD CUP STAR THOMAS MÜLLER JOINS GOLFERS KAYMER, MANASSERO AND OOSTHUIZEN AS FAVOURITES FOR NOMINATION FOR LAUREUS BREAKTHROUGH AWARD
• World’s media to vote for six Nominees in Breakthrough category • Lemaitre and Tamgho mount double challenge for France • Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Abu Dhabi on February 7
LONDON, December 16, 2010 - German football’s ‘wunderkind’ Thomas Műller and three of the most exciting golfers in action today are among the favourites for Nomination for the 2011 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.
Műller’s performances for the German national team was one of the talking points of the World Cup in South Africa, while Martin Kaymer, Matteo Manassero and Louis Oosthuizen all made significant impact on the fairways during the year.
The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during 2010, are the premier honours on the international sporting calendar.
The names of the six Nominees for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award, as voted by the Laureus Media Selection Panel, will be announced in early January.
The eventual winner will then be chosen from that list of Nominees by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, and will be unveiled during a televised Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Monday, February 7.
At the age of 20, Thomas Müller was the winner of the Golden Boot for most goals scored and also won the Best Young Player Award at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He scored five goals in six appearances and had three assists at the World Cup as Germany finished in third place. A product of the Bayern Munich youth system, Müller made his breakthrough into the 2009/10 team which won the German League and Cup and reached the Champions League Final losing to Inter Milan.
Another young German star Martin Kaymer, at 25, won his first major championship - the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. He became the first German to win the event and only the second after Bernhard Langer to win a major championship. He finished the event in a tie at 11-under-par, then beat American Bubba Watson in a play-off. In an excellent 2010, he won the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, the KLM Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He was also a member of the winning European Ryder Cup team.
In October, Italy’s Matteo Manassero became the youngest ever winner on the European Tour after his victory at the Castellon Masters in Spain. At 17 years 188 days, he is one year and 25 days younger than previous record holder Danny Lee. Manassero’s four-shot victory earned him a two-year European Tour exemption in just his tenth Tour event since turning professional.
South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen won his first major championship at the Open Championship at St Andrews. When he went into the event, he was ranked just 54th in the world. His four round score of 272 was the second lowest in St Andrews history. He became the fourth South African after Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Ernie Els to win The Open. In a good year for Oosthuizen, he also won his first European Tour event at the Open de Andalucia Golf.
Two French athletes are contenders for Nomination, Christophe Lemaitre, who at 20 won the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metres gold medals at the European Championships in Barcelona - the first sprinter ever to do this treble, and 21-year-old Teddy Tamgho who is already the third best triple jumper of all time, after jumping 17.98 metres in June, which followed his gold medal in the World Indoor Championships in Doha in March. He was also the triple jump winner of the 2010 Diamond League and won the bronze medal in the European Championships.
The England Twenty/20 team won the World Cup, their first global trophy in the 35-year history of limited-overs cricket. It was even more enjoyable for them that the seven wicket victory in the final in Barbados in May was against rivals Australia, who are current World Cup and Champions Trophy winners. The England team was captained by Paul Collingwood and included flamboyant batsman Kevin Pietersen. England fast bowler Steve Finn was named International Cricket Council Emerging Player of the Year. Aged 21, he played in six Test matches during the ICC voting period, taking 27 wickets at an average of 21.85.
The 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards is returning to Abu Dhabi thanks to the support of Aabar Investments PJS, who will once again be Host Partner for the event. His Excellency Khadem Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Aabar, said: "The Laureus World Sports Awards is a unique event. It was magnificent, a great success for Abu Dhabi when it was held here last March. The whole event was really superb. We will certainly try to do something special when we bring the Awards back next year."
Last year double Oscar-winning Hollywood star Kevin Spacey hosted a glittering Awards Ceremony attended by leading sportsmen and women from around the world. Also in the audience at a packed auditorium at the Emirates Palace were Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, British film stars Hugh Grant and Clive Owen and American actors Kyle MacLachlan and Michelle Rodriguez.
Among the names of the winners of the 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards announced in Abu Dhabi last March were Usain Bolt, Serena Williams, Jenson Button, Kim Clijsters, Natalie du Toit and Stephanie Gilmore.
Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, offers a fascinating combination of the old and the new; a blend of Arabic hospitality and mystique where a mixture of culture and tradition come together against a backdrop of the most modern world-class infrastructure. Abu Dhabi is developing a reputation as a great sporting venue as host city for the FIFA Club World Cup, the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, all highlights of the sporting calendar in the city.
Aabar Investments PJS is an investment company headquartered in Abu Dhabi. It invests in various sectors including aerospace, real estate, automotive and financial services. Its largest stakeholder is the International Petroleum Investment Company, which is wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which supports almost 80 community sports projects around the world which have helped to improve the lives of more than one million young people.
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 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. Then the members of the Laureus World Sports Academy vote by secret ballot to select the Award winners.
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.
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Keywords · Germany · Thomas Muller · Golf · 2011 Laureus · Abu Dhabi
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