Kuala Lumpur: Some of the biggest names in sport are in contention for honours at the self-styled sporting Oscars, the Laureus 2014 World Sports Awards, being held in Kuala Lumpar on Wednesday.
Among the stellar sporting figures nominated for the awards by the world’s media are three-time Laureus winners Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprint superstar, and Serena Williams, the best female tennis player on the planet; four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, shortlisted for the fifth time; and Tiger Woods, who won in 2000, the inaugural year of Laureus, and who is selected again after returning to the summit of world golf.
The world number one men’s tennis player Rafael Nadal and Yelena Isinbayeva, of Russia, the pole vault world champion, who are both two-time Laureus winners, are nominated in two categories.
One of the most intriguing questions in this year’s contest is whether charismatic Real Madrid and Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo or Miami Heat basketball icon LeBron James can become the first team player to win the individual Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.
Laureus World Sports Academy chairman, Edwin Moses, who won gold medals in the 400-metre hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics, said: “I have never seen such a potentially close contest in so many categories before. This is going to be a classic year.”
He added: “There is a wonderful balance between some of the great names who have dominated sport over many years and some exciting newcomers such as Missy Franklin and Marc Márquez. I am especially thrilled by the line-up for the Disability Award, where you could make a case for any of the six to win.
“This is really the crème de la crème of sport and it is going to be an exciting night in Kuala Lumpur discovering which of these great athletes will receive Laureus Awards.”
The awards, which are in their 14th year and which recognise sporting achievement during the calendar year 2013, are billed as the premier honours event on the international sporting calendar.
The winners, as voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, will be unveiled at a globally televised awards ceremony on Wednesday (5pm UAE time).
Of particular significance this year is the fact that Usain Bolt could be celebrating a record-equalling fourth Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award, after he won all three sprint events in the World Championships in Moscow in August.
Up against him will be Sebastian Vettel, of Germany, who won his fourth straight Formula One World Championship at the age of just 26; Miami Heat’s LeBron James, voted NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the fourth time in five years; Rafael Nadal, winner of the French Open and US Open Grand Slams after returning from a seven-month injury lay-off; Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 69 goals for Real Madrid and Portugal in 2013; and Britain’s Mo Farah, winner of the 5,000 and 10,000 metres double in Moscow.
There is a familiar look to the nominations for Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, with American swimmer Missy Franklin, Jamaican athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Serena Williams all selected for the second year.
Aged only 18, Franklin won a record six gold medals in the World Championships, while Fraser-Pryce matched Usain Bolt in securing all three sprint gold medals in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams had another outstanding year, triumphing at the French and US Opens. Also on the shortlist is Slovenia’s sensational skier Tina Maze, who won the Overall World Cup and three other disciplines; Yelena Isinbayeva, who won pole vault gold in the World Championships in front of her home Russian crowd; and Nadine Angerer, Fifa Women’s Player of the Year and captain of the German team that won the European Championship.
In the Laureus World Team of the Year category, Bayern Munich, winners of the Uefa Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup, are nominated along with New Zealand’s All Blacks, the first national rugby team to achieve a 100 per cent record in the professional era; the Brazil men’s football team, winners of the Confederations Cup; American twins Bob and Mike Bryan, who held all four tennis Grand Slam doubles titles and the Olympic gold medal; Miami Heat, who won the NBA title for the second straight year; and Red Bull, who clinched a fourth straight Formula One Constructors’ World Championship.
Spain’s Marc Márquez, the youngest MotoGP world champion at 20 years, 266 days, is a leading nominee for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.