This year, you will find attached  the 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards Nominations press kit as a source of information, photos, special testimonials and more. This exclusive download, introduced by Laureus Academy Member Sir Seb Coe, includes quotes from past Winners such as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams explaining how much their Award means to them, the full list of 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards Nominees, information about the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation and the Awards Host City, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  

 

KUALA LUMPUR, February 26, 2014 – The All Blacks have been nominated for the 2014 Laureus World Team of the Year Award, following a ballot by the world’s media.

 

The All Blacks won all 14 of their Test matches in 2013, a 100% record – the first time a national team have achieved this since rugby went professional.

 

This is the fifth occasion that the All Blacks have been nominated for the Laureus Team of the Year Award and the third time in the last four years.

 

This year New Zealand is celebrating a double Laureus sporting success as swimmer Sophie Pascoe, aged 20, has been short-listed for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award.

 

The 15^th Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during the calendar year 2013, is the premier honours event 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 globally televised Awards Ceremony staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Wednesday, March 26.

 

Among the giants of sport who have been nominated are three-time Laureus winners Usain Bolt and Serena Williams, brilliant young Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, short-listed for the fifth time, and Tiger Woods, who won in 2000, the inaugural year of Laureus, who is selected again after returning to the summit of world golf. Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, 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 footballer Cristiano Ronaldo or Miami Heat superstar LeBron James, both nominated, can become the first team player to win the individual Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.

 

The highlight of the All Blacks year was their six wins in the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship, including an impressive 38-27 win over South Africa in Johannesburg. Led by veteran Richie McCaw, the team includes Kieran Read at No 8, who was named International Player of the Year in 2013, and fly-half Dan Carter, the highest points scorer in Test match rugby.

 

Laureus World Sports Academy Member and former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick said: “Perfection in sport is nearly always an impossible goal, yet in 2013 the All Blacks came very near to it. If there were any doubts about the best team in international rugby heading into the start of the 2013, there was no doubt by the end of the calendar year. The All Blacks did not lose a Test match, though there were one or two nervous moments, particularly Ryan Crotty’s last minute try in  the 14^th match in Ireland to keep the 100% record. It’s the first time any team has won all 14 games in a calendar year since the professional era of international rugby was introduced and for an All Blacks team simply laden with talent, that’s an honour that befits them perfectly. For me, as a former All Black, it was the style of their game and their expansive play that was just so wonderful to watch. Regardless of what circumstance they might have found themselves in, they always managed to pull through with sheer brilliance in attack and huge energy in defence, The highlight? Obviously that impressive 38-27 win over South Africa in Johannesburg was unforgettable. Kieran Read was the IRB Player of the Year, but you could make a case for quite a few of the others.”

 

In the Laureus World Team of the Year category, also nominated are Bayern Munich, winners of the UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup, the Brazil Men’s Football Team, winners of the Confederations Cup, American twins Bob & Mike Bryan, who held all four Grand Slam doubles titles and the Olympic gold medal, Miami Heat, who won the NBA title for the second straight year, and Red Bull, winners of a fourth straight Formula One Constructors’ World Championship.

 

Sophie Pascoe produced a tour de force in the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, winning five gold medals in her five events. She also set four world records and was voted IPC Athlete of the Month for August. In September, she broke another two world records at the New Zealand Short Course Championships. Her achievements in 2013 continued her earlier successes. In 2008 at the Beijing Paralympics, as a 15-year-old, she won three gold medals and one silver and four years later in London she won three gold and three silver medals. Sophie lost her left leg below the knee after an accident in the family garden when she was just two.

 

The competition is likely to be particularly fierce for the Laureus Disability Award, where the Nominees between them won an amazing 32 gold medals in world championship events in 2013. Also nominated are wheelchair racers Tatyana McFadden and Marcel Hug, two other swimmers, Norway’s Sarah Louise Rung and Ukraine’s Olga Sviderska, and French skier Marie Bochet.

 

The full list of Nominees for the 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards is:

 

Usain Bolt (Jamaica) Athletics – won 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m World Championship gold medals

Mo Farah (UK) Athletics – won classic 5,000m and 10,000m double in World Championships

LeBron James (US) Basketball – Miami Heat star, voted NBA MVP for fourth time in five years

Rafael Nadal (Spain) Tennis – winner of French Open, US Open and five ATP Masters event

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) Football - scored 69 goals for Real Madrid and Portugal in 2013

Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Motor Racing – won fourth straight Formula One World Championship

 

Nadine Angerer (Germany) Football – FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, captain of German team

Missy Franklin (US) Swimming – at 18, won a record six gold medals in World Championships

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica) Athletics – won three sprint gold medals in World Championships

Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia) Athletics – won pole vault world title in front of home Russian crowd

Tina Maze (Slovenia) Skiing – won Overall World Cup and three other disciplines, plus Super G world title

Serena Williams (US) Tennis – won French Open and US Open, plus eight other tournaments in 2013

 

All Blacks (NZ) Rugby Union – first time a national team achieved a 100% record in professional era

Bayern Munich (Germany) Football – won Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble

Brazil Men’s Football Team – won Confederations Cup, beating World Cup holders Spain in final

Bob & Mike Bryan (US) Tennis – completed doubles ‘Golden Slam’ – four Grand Slams and Olympic gold

Miami Heat (US) Basketball – won NBA title for second straight year, beating San Antonio Spurs in final

Red Bull (Austria) Motor Racing – won fourth straight Formula One Constructors’ World Championship

 

Afghanistan Cricket Team – learned cricket in refugee camps, in 2013 reached first World Cup finals

Marc Márquez (Spain) Motor Cycling – youngest ever MotoGP world champion, at 20 years 266 days

Raphael Holzdeppe (Germany) Athletics – won Germany’s first World Championship pole vault gold

Nairo Quintana (Colombia) Cycling – first Tour de France rookie to finish on the podium since 1996

Justin Rose (UK) Golf – won his first Major Championship at US Open, at the age of 32

Adam Scott (Australia) Golf – first Australian winner in the 77-year history of US Masters

 

Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia) Athletics – won pole vault world title in front of home Russian crowd

Rafael Nadal (Spain) Tennis – winner of French Open, US Open and five ATP Masters event

Oracle Team USA - Sailing – 8-1 down in America’s Cup, Oracle fought back for a remarkable 9-8 victory

Tony Parker (France) Basketball – European Championship MVP after recovering from serious eye injury

Ronaldinho (Brazil) Football – at 33, led unfashionable Atlético Mineiro to victory in Copa Libertadores

Tiger Woods (US) Golf – US PGA Player of the Year after five tour victories, regained world No 1 ranking

 

Marie Bochet (France) Skiing – first winner of all five disciplines at a single Alpine World Championships

Marcel Hug (Switzerland) Wheelchair Racing – won five golds and a silver medal at World Championships

Tatyana McFadden (US) Wheelchair Racing – won four city marathons and six golds at World Championships

Sophie Pascoe (NZ) Swimming – won five gold medals out of five attempts at World Championships

Sarah Louise Rung (Norway) Swimming – won four gold medals in her five races in World Championships

Olga Sviderska (Ukraine) Swimming – took five individual and two relay golds in the World Championships

 

Jamie Bestwick (UK) BMX – only athlete in X Games history to win eight straight gold medals

Bob Burnquist (Brazil) Skateboarding – overtook Dave Mirra to win a record 25^th X-Games gold medal

Mick Fanning (Australia) Surfing – clinched his third World Surfing Championship in last event of year

John John Florence (US) Surfing  – scored perfect 10 for completing the Alley Oop in Bali

Maya Gabeira (Brazil) Surfing – nearly drowned after attempting to surf a 70ft wave in Portugal

Shaun White (US) Snowboarding – won sixth consecutive SuperPipe gold medal at Winter X Games

 

For more detailed biographies of Nominees go to www.laureus.com

 

The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards Nominations were announced in a series of global events in Kuala Lumpur, London and  New York. Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which supports more than 140 community sports projects in 34 countries. Since its inception, Laureus has raised over €60 million for projects which have improved the lives of more than one-and-a-half million young people.

 

Information about guests who will be attending the Awards and the full programme of events will be announced in the coming weeks.

 

Among the sporting greats who have been named as winners of Awards over the 15 years of  Laureus have been Usain Bolt, Sebastian Coe, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Alex Ferguson, Lewis Hamilton, Kelly Holmes, Rafael Nadal, Pelé, Steve Redgrave, Ronaldo, Michael Schumacher, Kelly Slater, Shaun White, Serena Williams and Zinedine Zidane.

 

Guests attending the Awards Ceremony have included His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain, HSH Prince Albert of Monaco, David and Victoria Beckham, Sean Connery, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Morgan Freeman, Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey.

 

YB Dato' Seri Mohamed Nazri, Minister of Tourism & Culture of  Malaysia, said: “Kuala Lumpur is honoured to have been given the privilege of hosting the prestigious 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards and the city looks forward to staging this internationally-renowned event and welcoming a plethora of sporting legends to Malaysia. This is a sports-loving country and I can promise warm Malaysian hospitality awaits all our guests. Coupled with international events such as the Monsoon Cup and Formula One Grand Prix, we are supremely confident that Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is the perfect host for a sporting event with such global significance. I am positive this will be an event to remember for all involved.”

 

Hostname/IP Address:  laureus-ftp1.iweb-ftp.co.uk

Username: laureus-lwsa14

Password: awards

For queries regarding the VNR please contact [email protected]

 

The brand-new online home for the Laureus World Sports Awards 2014 has been launched and sport fans will be able to access the site directly at www.laureus.com. It features a variety of exclusive content: Nominee list, special interviews, videos, photos and insights offering a never-before-seen look into all areas of the Laureus World Sports Awards. Topics focus on Laureus news and people, including Academy Member and Ambassador visits to projects demonstrating the work of the Foundation and behind-the-scenes activities.

 

Celebrating the landmark 15^th year of Laureus, visitors can also experience a year-by-year journey through a decade-and-a-half of Awards excitement and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation charity work.  The Micro site serves as a media platform to address all journalists multimedia downloads.It is also home to the first-ever Laureus World Sports Awards social media hub. Visitors will have the opportunity to give their opinions within our Laureus Facebook, Twitter and Instagram outlets. Our editorial team will feature posts that attempt to educate the sport fans about our Sport For Good Foundation as well as entertain them around the Awards.

 

Visit now: www.laureus.com

For more information please contact:

 

Tel: +44 (0) 0207 514 2841    

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Photo Archive: www.laureusarchive.com

Video Archive: http://www.digitalnewsagency.com/laureus

Website: www.laureus.com

Follow us on Twitter @LaureusSport

 

 

The first Patron of Laureus was Nelson Mandela.  At the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000, he said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can awaken hope where once there was only despair.” This has become the philosophy of Laureus; the driving force behind its work.

 

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 Academy, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and the Laureus World Sports Awards - which collectively celebrate sporting excellence and use sport as the means to promote social change.

 

The Laureus World Sports Awards is the premier global sports awards honouring the greatest sportsmen and women across all sports each year.  The winners are selected by the ultimate sports jury - the 46 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, the living legends of sport honouring the great athletes of today.  The Awards are presented at an annual Awards Ceremony, attended by global figures from sport and entertainment, which is broadcast to 120 countries and territories.  

 

The Laureus Academy Members volunteer their services as global ambassadors for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which was set up to promote the use of sport as a tool for social change. The Foundation addresses social challenges through a worldwide programme of sports related community development initiatives. Since its inception, Laureus has raised over €60 million for projects which have helped to improve the lives of more than one-and-a-half million young people.

 

The mission of the Laureus Foundation is to use sport as the means to combat some of the world’s toughest social challenges facing young people today such as juvenile crime, gangs, HIV/AIDS, discrimination, social exclusion, landmines awareness and health problems like obesity. The Academy is supported in its work by the members of the Laureus Ambassadors programme, a select group of current and retired sportsmen and sportswomen who have achieved sporting greatness, plus non-sporting personalities who have made significant contributions to the sporting community during their careers. 

 

The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy are: Giacomo Agostini, Marcus Allen, Franz Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Ian Botham, Sergey Bubka, Bobby Charlton, Sebastian Coe, Nadia Comaneci, Yaping Deng, Marcel Desailly, Kapil Dev, Mick Doohan, David Douillet, Emerson Fittipaldi, Sean Fitzpatrick, Dawn Fraser, Cathy Freeman, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Mika Häkkinen, Tony Hawk, Mike Horn, Miguel Indurain, Michael Johnson, Kip Keino, Franz Klammer, Dan Marino, Edwin Moses (Chairman), Nawal El Moutawakel, Robby Naish, Ilie Nastase, Martina Navratilova, Alexey Nemov, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Morné du Plessis, Hugo Porta, Steve Redgrave, Vivian Richards, Monica Seles, Mark Spitz, Daley Thompson, Alberto Tomba, Steve Waugh and Katarina Witt.

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 120 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 from the shortlist. The Laureus Academy Members also vote for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disabilityand the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year, the Nominations for which are made by specialist panels.  

 

Laureus was founded by its Patrons Richemont and Daimler and is supported by its Global Partners Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen.

 

Mercedes-Benz, the world’s oldest automaker, can look back on a unique tradition. It is the most valuable automotive premium brand which stands for quality, safety, comfort, design and sustainable mobility. Mercedes-Benz enjoys an excellent reputation, particularly in the field of safety. Many pioneering technical innovations that are standard automotive features today were first seen in a Mercedes-Benz car. The Mercedes-Benz engineers will in the future consistently reinvent the automobile – with the same enthusiasm and innovation as Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz in 1886. Moreover, Mercedes-Benz has been actively supporting professional and amateur sport for decades and has become established as a dependable partner in the fields of motor sport, football, golf, horse riding and tennis.  Mercedes-Benz is a Global Partner of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Since the beginning of the Foundation's operations in 2000, Mercedes-Benz has shared and supported the goals and values of this worldwide charity programme where sports play the core role in the fight against social issues - Laureus has become a vital element of the corporate social responsibility programme of Mercedes-Benz.

 

With a clear focus on technology and development, the Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen has been producing watches of lasting value since 1868. The company has gained an international reputation based on a passion for innovative solutions and technical ingenuity. One of the world's leading brands in the luxury watch segment, IWC crafts masterpieces of haute horlogerie at its finest, combining engineering and precision with exclusive design. As a Global Partner since 2005 and as part of its corporate social responsibility, IWC is one of the driving forces behind the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Since 2006, the Swiss watch manufacturer has launched several limited editions in honour and support of the Foundation. These watches are destined to be collector's items as each edition features an exclusive engraving on the back based on a drawing by one child involved in a Laureus project.

 

Malaysia is a country which offers a unique look into the rest of Asia as a bubbling, bustling melting-pot of races and religions where Malays, Indians, Chinese and many other ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony. Its multiculturalism has made Malaysia a gastronomical paradise and home to hundreds of colourful festivals. Malaysians are very relaxed, warm and friendly. Being ranked as the 10^th most popular travel destination in the world by UNWTO and the 4^th best shopping destination in the world by CNN, and 2014 being the Visit Malaysia Year, Malaysia definitely is the most suitable host for Laureus World Sports Awards 2014.