POSTED: Tuesday January 11th 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JESSICA ENNIS AND BRITISH AND IRISH RYDER CUP STARS AMONG NOMINEES FOR 2011 LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS
• Seventh gold medal puts Britain’s BMX star Jamie Bestwick on shortlist for Laureus World Action Sports Award • Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Abu Dhabi, February 5-7
• Apply for media accreditation on www.laureus.com/accreditation
ABU DHABI, January 11, 2011 - Britain’s heptathlon golden girl Jessica Ennis and the British and Irish dominated European Ryder Cup Team are among the Nominees for the 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards, following a ballot by the world’s media. Also nominated for the Laureus World Action Sports Award is BMX star Jamie Bestwick.
The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during the calendar year 2010, are the premier honours on the international sporting calendar. The winners, as voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, will be unveiled at a televised Awards Ceremony staged in Abu Dhabi on Monday, February 7.
Jessica Ennis followed in the steps of the great Carolina Kluft by adding the 2010 European Championship heptathlon title to her World Championship gold medal of 2009, setting a new championship record of 6,823 points - the highest score in the world in 2010. Kluft, now retired from the event to concentrate on long jump, said that she expected Ennis to pass her European record points total of 7,032 at some stage in the future.
Ennis, who also won the pentathlon gold at the World Indoor Championship in Doha, is one of the names on the shortlist for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award along with three tennis players - Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, three-time Laureus winner Serena Williams and Denmark’s world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki - plus American ski star Lindsey Vonn and Croatian high jump sensation Blanka Vlasic.
Athletics legend and Laureus Academy Member Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Games Organising Committee, said: “In a couple of years Jessica has turned herself into one of the best athletes in the world and she just seems to be getting better and better. Everyone in Britain will be hoping that she can carry this brilliant form through to 2012 and win an Olympic gold medal in London. She thoroughly deserves her Nomination after an immensely successful year.”
Europe were strong favourites to win the biennial Ryder Cup match against the United States at Celtic Manor in South Wales in October. In the end they succeeded, but the result was much closer than had been predicted. The three-day match was weather affected, but that only seemed to add to the drama as the European team, captained by Colin Montgomerie, beat the Americans 14½-13½.
Europe, which included Englishmen Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood and Irishmen Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, have been nominated for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award with the Spain World Cup Team, Champions League winners Inter Milan, NBA winners Los Angeles Lakers, the Red Bull Formula One Team and the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team.
Nottingham-born Jamie Bestwick claimed his seventh gold medal in BMX Vert at the 2010 X Games, earning the event's first-ever four-peat in the process. His quiver of 540 variations, including alley oop 5s in the 11-foot range and double downside tailwhips, has no equal. At this year’s Dew Tour Championships, Bestwick took home the overall Dew Cup even after riding finals with a herniated disc. It was his fifth straight Vert title and earned him nomination for the Laureus World Action Sports Award, along with the world’s two top surfers, Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore and American Kelly Slater, Spanish windsurfer Victor Fernandez, New Zealand’s freestyle moto-cross rider Levi Sherwood and US snowboarder Shaun White.
The full list of nominees for the 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards is:
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year
Kobe Bryant (US) Basketball - won fifth NBA Finals and second Finals MVP award with LA Lakers
Andres Iniesta (Spain) Football - Barcelona star, scored winning goal for Spain in World Cup Final
Lionel Messi (Argentina) Football - scored 47 goals for Barcelona in the 2009/10 season
Rafael Nadal (Spain) Tennis - won French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same year
Manny Pacquiao (Philippines) Boxing - first boxer to win world titles in eight different divisions
Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Motor Racing - youngest F1 World Champion at 23 years 134 days
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year
Kim Clijsters (Belgium) Tennis - won second straight US Open and four other events in 2010
Jessica Ennis (UK) Athletics - won European heptathlon title and World Indoor pentathlon gold
Blanka Vlasic (Croatia) Athletics - IAAF athlete of year, won European and World Indoor high jump gold
Lindsey Vonn (US) Alpine Skiing - won third straight overall World Cup and Olympic Downhill gold
Serena Williams (US) Tennis - won Australian Open and Wimbledon to take her Grand Slam wins to 13
Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) Tennis - became world No 1, at 20, without having won a Grand Slam
Laureus World Team of the Year
All Blacks (New Zealand) Rugby - won Tri-Nations Series and completed a northern Grand Slam
European Ryder Cup Team - under Colin Montgomerie, Europe’s golfers beat the US 14½-13½
Inter Milan (Italy) Football - won Italian treble of Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia
Los Angeles Lakers (US) Basketball - beat arch-rivals Boston Celtics for their 16th NBA title
Red Bull Formula One Team (Austria) - won constructors’ and drivers’ world titles in 2010
Spain World Cup Team - won their first FIFA World Cup in 2010; also current European champions
Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year
Martin Kaymer (Germany) Golf - won US PGA Championship and finished year as Europe’s No 1
Christophe Lemaitre (France) Athletics - won European Championships 100m, 200m and 4x100m treble
Matteo Manassero (Italy) Golf - youngest ever winner on European Tour at 17 years, 188 days
Thomas Müller (Germany) Football - winner of Golden Boot and Best Young Player Award at World Cup
Louis Oosthuizen (S.Africa) Golf - ranked 54th in world, he won the Open Championship at St Andrews
Teddy Tamgho (France) Athletics - triple jump winner of Diamond League and World Indoor gold medal
Laureus World Comeback of the Year
Paula Creamer (US) Golf - came back from injury to win the women's US Open by four strokes
Tyson Gay (US) Athletics - beat Usain Bolt in Stockholm and finished year ranked No 1 in 100 metres
Justine Henin (Belgium) Tennis - after 16 months out, returned to reach Australian Open final
Carolina Kluft (Sweden) Athletics - returned after ruptured hamstring, to reach Euro long jump final
Merlene Ottey (Slovenia) Athletics - became oldest woman to compete in Euro Champs at 50
Valentino Rossi (Italy) Motor Cycling - came back in 41 days after broken leg and later won in Sepang
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability
Verena Bentele (Germany) Skiing / Biathlon - won five gold medals in the Winter Paralympics
Matt Cowdrey (Australia) Swimming - won six golds and a silver medal in IPC World Championships
Daniel Dias (Brazil) Swimming -broke five world records and won eight titles at World Championships
Jakub Krako (Slovakia) Alpine Skiing - visually impaired, won three gold medals in Winter Paralympics
Esther Vergeer (Netherlands) Wheelchair Tennis - unbeaten run in singles dates back eight years
Lauren Woolstencroft (Canada) Alpine Skiing - won five Paralympic golds in front of her home crowd
Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year
Jamie Bestwick (UK) BMX - seventh gold medal in BMX Vert at X Games, with first-ever four-peat
Victor Fernandez (Spain) Windsurfing - won PWA Wave Tour and led ranking throughout season
Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) Surfing - won her fourth consecutive world championship
Levi Sherwood (New Zealand) Freestyle Moto-Cross - at 18, won two events on X-Fighters Tour
Kelly Slater (US) Surfing - won an unprecedented record tenth World Surfing Championship.
Shaun White (US) Snowboarding - won second straight Olympic gold in Halfpipe, with 48.4 out of 50
For more detailed biographies of Nominees go to www.laureus.com/Awards/2011/Nominees
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 from over 150 countries 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.
To apply for accreditation for the 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards, go to www.laureus.com/accreditation
A VNR will be available for download at: http://www.nuview.tv/laureus/
For queries regarding the VNR please contact Latasha.Jastrzebski@laureus.com
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Keywords · Laureus World Sports Awards · Abu Dhabi · Jessica Ennis · Ryder Cup · Sebastian Coe
Name: Gerald Meier
Organization: Laureus Global Communications
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URL: www.laureus.com
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