Kelly Slater surfs to second Laureus Award
Legendary US
surfer receives Action Sports Award from Laureus Academy members Tony Hawk and
Robby Naish · X Games provides unique backdrop for presentation to multi-title winning
surfer · Pictures of
Kelly Slater receiving Award available on www.laureusarchive.com Los
Angeles, August
2, 2009 – The Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award went for the
second time in three years to legendary American surfer Kelly Slater, who
won a record ninth world title in 2008. The 37-year old legendary surfing master completed his most dominant
year yet. Claiming an unprecedented ninth world title in 2008, Slater took first
in six of the 10 contests he entered. His 8,832 points this year absolutely
dwarfed the 6,780 of his nearest competitor. Slater did not even plan to compete
in 2008, giving his rivals a false sense of confidence that he later dashed when
he changed his mind and returned to the waves. Slater has won championships at
age 20 and 34. Slater
received his award at a special ceremony at the Home Depot Centre on the final
day of the 2009 X Games from Laureus World Sports Academy members and action
sports legends Tony Hawk and Robby Naish. After
receiving the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award, Slater could
not contain his delight in front of an appreciative crowd of fans and other
competitors. On accepting the award Slater said “To
be recognized on an international and mainstream sports level is something
special that I haven’t experienced a lot. This Laureus Award is something very different and special. To be recognized by this group of
athletes is amazing and something I’m happy to carry with me throughout my
lifetime. I’m very honored to win
this award a second time.” Laureus
World Sports Academy member Tony Hawk said: “Kelly is an awesome athlete having won it all as both the youngest
and oldest ever world champion. I don’t know any other athlete who can say that.
It is a tribute to his attitude about sport and surfing that he is still around
and setting the bar so high.” Fellow Laureus Academy member Robby Naish commented “Kelly’s
dominance over the sport of surfing has been nothing short of amazing. In a sport that changes and evolves as
quickly as surfing, staying on top for so long is unbelievable. Kelly Slater is simply the greatest
surfer of all time.” The
other nominees for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award were
France’s double Olympic mountain bike gold medallist Julien Absoalon, Australian
women’s surfing sensation Stephanie Gilre, UK born world kiteboard champion
Aaron Hadlow and two US athletes; seven time Winter X Games gold medallist
Tanner Hall and Snowboarding/Skateboarding champion and former Laureus World Action
sportsperson winner Shaun White. The
Laureus World Sports Awards are the only global sports awards honoring 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, a collection
of the world’s greatest sportsmen and women. The
Laureus World Sports Awards recognize sporting achievement during the period
January 1, 2008 - December 31, 2008. Laureus
World Sports Academy Chairman, Dr. Edwin Moses said “I would like to take this
opportunity to thank the X Games for hosting the Laureus presentation ceremony,
and for their huge contribution to positioning action sports to a wider global
audience. I would also like to
congratulate Kelly on winning his second Laureus World Sports
Award”. The Laureus World Action Sportsperson Award completes eight weeks of
global presentations to winners of the prestigious 2009 Laureus
World Sports Awards. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt was named Laureus World Sportsman of the
Year after his remarkable sprint triple in Beijing, Russian pole vault champion
Yelena Isinbayeva has won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award
for the second time in three years, Britain’s double gold medal swimmer
Rebecca Adlington has been presented with the Laureus Breakthrough of the
Year Award, while the China Olympic Team has won the Laureus World Team
of the Year after topping the Beijing medals table. The
prestigious Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award went
to Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias who won nine medals in the pool at the
Paralympic Games in Beijing in September. Away
from the Olympics and Paralympics, boxer Vitali Klitschko received the
Laureus Comeback of the Year Award after regaining the WBC World Heayweight
Championship for the second time. The
winners of this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards received their Awards during
a series of presentations made during May – July. Because of the current economic
situation Laureus and its partners have decided to forego the usual spring
Awards Ceremony. The key
focus for Laureus during 2009 will be to support the funding and activities of
the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The Laureus Foundation addresses
social challenges through a worldwide program of sports related community
development initiatives. Since its inception Laureus has raised $28 million for
projects which have helped improve the lives of more than one million young
people. For
further information please contact: Laureus Communications Tel: 312-337-3790 Email: RMonsky@aol.com or
publicrelations@laureus.com Website: www.laureus.com Photo Archive: For photos of Laureus events please visit
www.laureusarchive.com Blog: http://blog.laureus.com/ The
full list of nominees for the 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards is: Laureus
World Sportsman of the Year….WINNER: Usain Bolt 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….WINNER: Yelena Isinbayeva 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 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 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 Robin Monsky
Laureus World Team of the Year
Novak Djokovic
(Serbia) – 21, won his first Grand Slam tennis title at the Australian
Open
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