1.   Lucas Glover wins the US Open

2. USA beat Spain in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup. The New York Times calls it the Miracle on Grass.

3. South Africa hang on for a 26-21 win over the British & Irish Lions in Durban, South Africa.

4. Sebastien Vettel produces a faultless performance from poll position to win the British Grand Prix and confirm his growing reputation as the ‘new Michael Schumacher’.

5. The new Wimbledon roof was designed to put an end to rain delays. So far it’s been used for entirely different reasons.

Welcome to the Laureus blog.  Let’s kick it off with a summary of the year’s Laureus winners:

Sportsman of the Year   -   Usain Bolt

Sportswoman of the Year   -   Yelena Isinbayeva

Breakthrough of the Year    -   Rebecca Adlington

Sportsperson with a Disability   -   Daniel Dias

Comeback of the Year    -   Vitali Klitschko

Team of the Year    –     China Olympic Team

Action Sportsperson of the Year   -   TBA

The nominees, voted for by the world’s press, included some of the great sportsmen and women of this generation and so selecting the winners once again was a very difficult task for our Academy. Unsurprisingly, many of the nominees were chosen for  their achievements in the Olympics and Paralympics.  But how to separate them? In the men’s category it was always going to be a two horse race between Bolt and Phelps, with the former’s phenomenal track  achievements outweighing the swimmer’s record-breaking medal haul. Surely these were two of the great Olympic performances of all time? Read more