Maria Sharapova

Laureus World Sports Awards, Barcelona 2007

A glittering collection of the world’s greatest sports stars has been nominated for the 2007 Laureus World Sports Awards. A record number of leading sports journalists from around the world have voted this year to select the nominees. When the ballot closed on January 31, a total of 1,068 members of the Laureus World Sports Awards Media Selection Panel from 128 countries had cast their votes.

World tennis No.1 Roger Federer, seven-times Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher and the top golfer in the world, Tiger Woods - all two-time winners of the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award - have been nominated again, and there will be hot rivalry to see if one of them can be the first to make it three. In a very competitive category, up against them are Fernando Alonso, the current Formula One World Champion, Asafa Powell, the fastest man on Earth, and Fabio Cannavaro, captain of the Italian FIFA World Cup winning team. For Schumacher, who retired at the end of the 2006 Formula One season, it is a record seventh Laureus nomination.

French tennis star Amélie Mauresmo has been nominated for both Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year and Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Awards after finally breaking her hoodoo and winning two Grand Slam titles. In the Sportswoman category, Mauresmo is competing with two other Grand Slam winners Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova.

Dutch wheelchair tennis champion Esther Vergeer, winner of the Laureus Disability Award in 2002, has been nominated for the fourth time after an unbeaten 2006. While Spain’s kiteboarder Gisela Pulido, who is short-listed for the Laureus Action Sports Award, becomes the youngest ever nominee at 12.

The winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards, as voted for by the members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, will be announced during a televised Awards Ceremony staged at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, on the evening of Monday, April 2.

At the Nominations unveiling in Barcelona, it was also announced that French football legend and World Cup winner Marcel Desailly and South African explorer Mike Horn, winner of the Laureus Alternative Sportsperson of the Year Award in 2001, had been elected to the Laureus World Sports Academy.

Academy Chairman Edwin Moses said: “This has been a great year for sport and the Academy are going to find it extremely difficult to decide who to vote for as winners. But when you speak of winners, they don’t come bigger or better than Marcel and Mike. In their different worlds, they have been supreme and I know they are going to be tireless workers for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.”

The full list of nominees for the 2007 Laureus World Sports Awards is:

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year

Fernando Alonso (Spain) – second straight winner of the Formula One World Championship
Fabio Cannavaro (Italy) – captain of Italy’s FIFA World Cup winning team
Roger Federer (Switzerland) – winner of three Grand Slam tennis events
Asafa Powell (Jamaica) – fastest sprinter in the world
Michael Schumacher (Germany) - retired after seven Formula One World Championships
Tiger Woods (US) – winner of Open Championship and US PGA golf majors
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year

Justine Henin (Belgium) – winner of French Open Grand Slam tennis championship
Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia) – winner of European Championship pole vault gold medal
Carolina Kluft (Sweden) – winner of European Championship heptathlon gold medal
Laure Manaudou (France) – winner of four gold medals in European Swimming Championships
Amélie Mauresmo (France) – winner of Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis championship
Maria Sharapova (Russia) – winner of US Open Grand Slam tennis championship
Laureus World Team of the Year

All Blacks Rugby Team (New Zealand) – winners of record seventh Tri-Nations Championship
FC Barcelona (Spain) – winners of UEFA Champions League and Spanish League and Cup double
European Ryder Cup Team – record-equalling win over the United States at K Club, Dublin
Italy Men’s Football Team – winners of the FIFA World Cup for the fourth time
Renault Formula One Team (France) – Constructors World Champions for second straight time
Spanish Basketball Team – won the basketball World Cup for the first time

Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year

Xavier Carter (US) – aged 20, ran second fastest 200 metres ever, and won four NCAA titles
Ghana Men’s Football Team – qualified for FIFA World Cup finals and reached last 16
Lewis Hamilton (UK) - aged 22, became first black driver to compete in Formula One
Amélie Mauresmo (France) – won her first Grand Slam tennis tournaments after limited success
Britta Steffen (Germany) – won four gold medals in European Swimming Championships
Mia Xiaoxu (China) – aged 18, won Golden Ball and Shoe in FIFA Under 20 World Championship
Laureus World Comeback of the Year

Drew Brees (US) – led New Orleans Saints to NFC Championship game after serious injury
Ben Curtis (US) – winner of first golf tournament since 2003 Open Championship
Roy Jones Jr (US) – came back to ring at 37 to win NABO light-heavyweight title
Miami Heat (US) – fought back to win NBA Finals after losing first two games
Serena Williams (US) – slipped out of top 100 through injury, but came back to win Australian Open
Zinedine Zidane (France) – returned from retirement to captain France to final of FIFA World Cup
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Martin Braxenthaler (Germany) – won three golds in Alpine mono-skiing in Winter Paralympics
Kurt Fearnley (Australia) – won New York Marathon wheelchair race, breaking course record
Edith Hunkeler (Switzerland) – won three golds in wheelchair racing at World Championships
Javier Otxoa (Spain) – Tour de France star who returned to cycle racing after car crash
Kazem Rajabi Golojeh (Iran) – broke two powerlifting world records in 2006
Esther Vergeer (Netherlands) – wheelchair tennis player unbeaten in three years
Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year

Aaron Hadlow (UK) – aged 17, won PKRA kiteboarding world tour for third time
Travis Pastrana (US) – motocross star, won three Summer X Games gold medals
Kevin Pritchard (US) – won windsurfing Wave World Championship
Gisela Pulido (Spain) – aged 12, won a PKRA kiteboarding event, beating the world champion
Kelly Slater (US) – won an unprecedented eighth world surfing championship at 34
Hannah Teter (US) – won ESPY award for Best Action Sports Female Athlete
Shaun White (US) – competed in and won 12 snowboarding events in 2006
*There are seven nominees in this category after the Action Sports Media Selection Panel vote resulted in a tie for sixth place

The 2006 Awards Ceremony, held in the presence of His Majesty The King of Spain in Barcelona, was attended by global figures from sport, entertainment, business and fashion. Hollywood celebrities Teri Hatcher and Cuba Gooding Jr hosted the Awards Ceremony. Guests from the world of entertainment included Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman. Among the winners present in Barcelona in 2006 to receive Laureus Awards were Roger Federer, Janica Kostelic, Renault’s Flavio Briatore, Rafael Nadal, Johan Cruyff, Valentino Rossi and Ernst van Dyk.

Laureus is a universal movement that celebrates the power of sport to bring people together as a force for good. Laureus is composed of three core elements - the Laureus World Sports Awards, the Laureus World Sports Academy and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation - which collectively celebrate sporting excellence and harness the power of sport to promote social change.

Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, is a world-famous destination. Its unique architecture, artistic ambience and celebrated tourist attractions have made it one of the most visited cities in the world.

The Laureus World Sports Awards will be one of the first events to be staged in Barcelona during the ‘Year of Sport’ which begins in March 2007 and which celebrates the 15th anniversary of the highly successful Olympic Games which were held in Barcelona in 1992. The main aim is to promote sport as a tool to improve health and social integration and to demonstrate the ability of Barcelona to host major international sports events.

Barcelona combines its passion for sport with its reputation as one of the most sophisticated business cities in Europe. The city offers world-class infrastructure, backed by superb organisational talent. Its unique qualities make Barcelona a natural choice to host the 2007 Laureus World Sports Awards.