April 2009 Archives

Laureus World Sports Awards 2009

Darren is honoured to be nominated for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability for the second year running.

Laureus and its Partners have made the decision that due to the current economic situation it would be inappropriate to stage a full-scale Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony at this time.

A key focus for Laureus during 2009 will now be to support the funding and activities of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. There has been tremendous growth recently in the Laureus Foundation, despite the economic downturn, and Laureus will ensure that this is not only sustained but also increases in the future.

The winners of this year's Laureus World Sports Awards will now receive their Awards individually at a series of presentations during May and June.

Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said: "This has been a very difficult decision, but we are painfully aware of the global problems caused by the current economic difficulties. It seemed to us, with so many people suffering, that this was the wrong time to be staging this event. This is the responsible thing to do and we are sure everyone will understand why we are doing this."

The full list of nominees for the 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards is:

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year

Usain Bolt (Jamaica) - first man to win 100m, 200m & 4x100m Olympic gold medals in world records

Lewis Hamilton (UK) - youngest ever Formula One World Champion at 23 years and 300 days

Rafael Nadal (Spain) - won French Open, Wimbledon & Olympic gold medal to become tennis No.1

Michael Phelps (US) - won eight gold medals in a single Olympiad to overtake Mark Spitz's record

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) - FIFA World Player of the Year, scored 42 goals for Manchester United

Valentino Rossi (Italy) - beat Giacomo Agostini's record 68 500cc wins, and won 6th senior world title


Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year

Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) -became first woman to win 5,000m & 10,000m double at same Olympics

Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia) - created her 24th world record in Beijing to win the pole vault gold medal

Lorena Ochoa (Mexico) - won seven tournaments in 2008, was almost $1m ahead on money list

Stephanie Rice (Australia) -won three swimming gold medals in Beijing; set 5 world records in 2008

Lindsey Vonn (US) - won Alpine World Cup title, also World Cup discipline leader in downhill

Venus Williams (US) - won her 5th Wimbledon title in 2008, also won Olympic doubles gold medal


Laureus World Team of the Year

Boston Celtics (US) - beat Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA play-offs for a record 17th time

China Olympic Team - best ever Olympic result, led medals table with 51 gold, 21 silver, 28 bronze

GB Olympic Cycle Team (UK) - dominated the Beijing velodrome with 8 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze

Jamaica Olympic Sprint Team - beat US favourites for a near clean sweep of Olympic sprint medals

Manchester United (UK) - won third European Champions League and also English Premier League

Spain Football Team - won European Championship, their first major title for 44 years


Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year

Rebecca Adlington (UK) - 19, unknown at the start of the year, won Olympic 400m & 800m freestlye

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - 21, won his first Grand Slam tennis title at the Australian Open

Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) - 20, won first Grand Slam at French Open, was tennis World No.1 for 9 weeks

Anthony Kim (US) - 23, won two US PGA events, and was star of US Ryder Cup win

Sebastian Vettel (Germany)- youngest ever F1 Grand Prix winner, at 21 years, 73 days, at Monza

Zou Kai (China) - won three gymnastic gold medals in Beijing on his Olympic debut


Laureus World Comeback of the Year

Vitali Klitschko (Ukraine) - regained World Heavyweight Championship at 37 after four years out

Anna Meares (Australia) - won Olympic silver medal eight months after breaking neck in cycle crash

Greg Norman (Australia) - finished 3rd in British Open golf at the age of 53, while on his honeymoon

Matthias Steiner (Germany) - won weightlifting Olympic gold a year after his wife died in car crash

Maarten van der Weijden (Netherlands) - won Olympic swimming gold medal after beating leukaemia

Tiger Woods (US) - returned two months after serious knee injury to win US Open golf championship


Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Daniel Dias (Brazil) - 20, leading swimmer at Paralympics with 4 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze medals

April Holmes (US) - world's fastest female amputee, won 100 metres at Paralympics

Darren Kenny (UK) - Paralympic cyclist who won 4 gold and 1 silver medals in Beijing.

Jonas Jacobsson (Sweden) - has won a shooting gold medal in the eight Paralympics since 1980

Teresa Perales (Spain) - won 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals in Paralympic swimming

Zhang Lixin (China) - became the local hero in Beijing with four wheelchair racing gold medals


Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year

Julien Absalon (France) - became first man to defend Olympic cross-country mountain bike title

Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) - won surfing world title in rookie year 2007, and also 2008

Aaron Hadlow (UK) - 19, won PKRA kiteboarding world tour for fifth straight time

Tanner Hall (US) - now the most successful Winter X Games athlete ever with seven gold medals

Kelly Slater (US) - At 36, legendary surfing master Kelly Slater won his ninth world title

Shaun White (US) - snowboarder, won Winter X Games Superpipe and bronze Slopestyle


For detailed biographies of nominees go to http://www.laureus.com/awards/2009/nominees

A panel of sports journalists and broadcasters from 112 countries voted for six nominees in each category. The winners will be selected in a secret ballot by 46 iconic sports stars including Jack Nicklaus, John McEnroe and Nadia Comaneci.

PIAM BROWN CHILDREN'S ONCOLOGY WARD 72 Miles 72 Holes

On Friday June 26th 2009 Stuart Grace will be undertaking a marathon 72 miles of cycling and 72 holes of golf in one day in aid of the Piam Brown Ward, During the day he will cycle between and will play will rounds of golf at Dibden, Walhampton, Highcliffe and Paultons golf courses before the final round at Romsey GC.

Stuart has been raising money for charity since the 1970's. Darren is a strong supporter of the good work that the Piam Brown ward does for children with cancer. This year he has also donated a signed shirt from the Tour of Norway as a raffle prize.

For more information on how to donate please see the Piam Brown Gold Cycle Challenge website.

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