Woods Wins Inaugural Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award
25 May 2000
Woods Wins Inaugural Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award
MONTE CARLO, Monaco, May 25 Golfer Tiger Woods was voted
World Sportsman of the Year in Monaco on Thursday night as American athletes
captured the lion's share of the inaugural Laureus Sports Awards, founded by
DaimlerChrysler and Richemont.
Woods, who won last year's PGA championship at Medinah during a remarkable
run of 11 tournament victories in just 15 starts, edged out tennis ace Andre
Agassi and sprint king Maurice Greene for the prestigious title.
The American golfer received the magnificent Laureus Trophy from multiple
major winners Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player in a satellite television link-up
from Ohio in the United States where he is currently playing in the Memorial
Tournament -- this week's stop on the US Tour.
The United States received three further awards out of the seven elected
categories.
American sprinter Marion Jones won the World Sportswoman of the Year title
from Romanian athlete Gabriela Szabo and tennis player Lindsay Davenport, Tour
de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong won the World Comeback of the Year
award and multi-disciplined athlete Shaun Palmer was named World Alternative
Sportsperson of the Year.
The three remaining elected awards, presented in a glitzy Oscar-style
ceremony staged in the regal surrounds of the Sporting Club of Monaco, went to
England, Spain and Australia.
British glamour football club Manchester United, who won last year's
European Cup, were named World Team of the Year; Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia
was voted World Newcomer of the Year; and Australian Louise Sauvage the
undisputed world number one in women's wheelchair track and road athletics,
was selected as World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.
The Founding Patrons of the Laureus Sports Awards also presented two
prestigious honours awards.
Mr. Nelson Mandela presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Brazilian
football legend Pele while the Sport for Good Award was presented to Special
Olympics creator Eunice Kennedy Shriver in honour of the outstanding
contribution which she has made to society through sport over the years.
The awards ceremony, the first to celebrate sporting excellence across all
disciplines and all continents, will be televised to an audience of three and
a half billion viewers in more than 150 countries.
Jeff Bridges, Ashley Judd and Dylan McDermott hosted the ceremony while
the presenters of the night included Hollywood actors Sylvester Stallone and
Samuel L. Jackson, tennis sisters Venus and Serena Williams, rock star Jon Bon
Jovi, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard and former
champion hurdler Edwin Moses. The ceremony was held under the High Patronage
of HSH Prince Albert of Monaco.
The Laureus Sports Awards were established by DaimlerChrysler, whose
premium automotive brand is Mercedes-Benz, and Richemont, whose luxury goods
portfolio includes Cartier, to celebrate the achievements of the world's
greatest sportsmen and women on an annual basis.
The awards, which mark the new millennium, recognise and reward sporting
supremacy during the period between March 1, 1999 and February 29 of this year
and were held under the High Patronage of HSH Prince Albert of Monaco.
Voting for the various award winners was based on a unique process. A
selection panel, comprising 230 leading sports journalists from 77 countries
around the world, submitted an initial shortlist of three nominees for each of
the five election categories. The final choices were then made by 38-member
World Sports Academy -- a prestigious jury of sporting legends from the recent
past.
The World Sports Academy's Founder Members include footballers Pele, Sir
Bobby Charlton and Michel Platini, basketball player Michael Jordan, gymnast
Nadia Comaneci, cricketers Sir Vivian Richards and Ian Botham, tennis players
Martina Navratilova, Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker, athletes. Sebastian Coe and
Daley Thompson and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros.
For further information, please contact: Paulette Kam of B|W|R Public
Relations, 310-550-7776; or Nina Fiddian-Green, Media Affairs Manager of
Laureus Sports Awards, Tel: +44 78 999 60417.