Laureus World Sports Awards 2009 – The Winners

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?

The overall success of the China Olympic Team set them apart from the rest of the team category, while Rebecca Adlington’s heroics in the pool and Daniel Dias’ multiple medals in the Paralympic games won them the Academy’s support. Sportswoman of the Year was far more open but in the end our legends voted for Yelena Isinbayeva, one of the great female athletes of our time. Vitali Klitschko’s incredible recapturing of his WBC title at the ripe old age of 37 earned him the Comeback award.  Some of you may agree with the Academy’s choices, others will undoubtedly disagree. Let’s hear your thoughts.

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