Net Miles Of Smiles

Published: Friday | April 17, 2009 

..

Jamaica’s Beijing Olympics double sprint champion, Usain Bolt, is in line for another prestigious sports award.

Bolt has been nominated for the Laureus world sportsman of the year award following his fantastic world record runs in the 100 metres and 200 metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He is also in line for a second award as the Jamaican sprint relay team, of which he was a member, has been nominated for the Laureus world team of the year.

The nominations were announced following a ballot among 873 journalists from 112 countries.

In Beijing last August, Bolt became the first man in history to win the 100 metres (9.69 seconds), 200 metres (19.30) and 4×100 metres gold medals (37.10) in world record times in the same Olympiad. Bolt’s 200 metres time broke the long-standing record of 19.32 set by American Michael Johnson at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Fantastic performance

Laureus World Sports Academy chairman, former world 400 metres record holder, Edwin Moses, said: “In Beijing, Usain Bolt produced one of the most fantastic performances in the history of the Olympic Games. Not just of this Olympics, but in the last 120 years. For me it was the sprinting performance of the century. The 100 and 200 metres are two of the classic races of the Games and, for Usain to dominate both, shows what a brilliant athlete he is.”

At the Games, the Glen Mills-coached Bolt broke the 100 metres world mark of 9.72 he had earlier set in May in New York. In the Laureus world sportsman of the year category, Bolt is up against Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, who won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing, plus his fourth straight French Open title and his first Wimbledon crown, Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals, motor sport racers Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi and Portugal and Manchester United footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.

Jamaica made a near clean sweep of Olympic sprinting gold medals in Beijing, overwhelming the United States, the traditional power house of sprinting. It was the first time one country had claimed so many sprint medals since 1912.

Bolt won gold medals in the men’s 100 and 200 metres, Veronica Campbell-Brown successfully defended the 200 metres and Shelly-Ann Fraser became the first Jamaican woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres. She was followed home by Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who dead-heated for silver medals. Stewart also won a bronze medal in the 200 metres.

Additionally, the men’s team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Bolt and Asafa Powell won the 4×100m gold medal.

The 10th Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during the period January 1, 2008 - December 31, 2008, is regarded as one of the premier honours on the international sporting calendar.

Team of the year

The list of nominees for the 2009 Laureus world team of the year are NBA champions Boston Celtics (USA); China Olympic Team - best ever Olympic result, led medals table with 51 gold, 21 silver, 28 bronze; GB Olympic Cycle Team (United Kingdom) - 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’s football team - won European Championship, their first major title for 44 years.

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 World Sports Awards and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation - which collectively celebrate sporting excellence and harness the power of sport to promote social change. The patron of Laureus is former South Africa President, Nelson Mandela.

Individual awards

Due to the current economic situation, Laureus, in a release yesterday, stated that it would be inappropriate to stage a full-scale Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony this year. The winners of this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards will receive their awards individually at a series of presentations during May and June.

The 46-member Laureus World Sports Academy which is chaired by Moses, includes sporting greats Sir Vivian Richards (cricket), John McEnroe (tennis), Daley Thompson (athletics), Severiano Ballesteros (golf), Franz Beckenbauer (football), Boris Becker