Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year

Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year
Arisa Trew holding the Laureus trophy
Arisa Trew, 2024 winner
Awarded for"the sportsperson who best demonstrates supreme athletic performance and achievement in action sports."[1]
LocationSeville (2021)[2]
First awarded2000
Currently held byAustralia Arisa Trew (2024)[3]
Most awardsUnited States Kelly Slater
(4 awards)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year, known as the Alternative Sportsperson of the Year prior to 2007, is an annual award honouring the achievements of individual athletes from the world of action sports. It was first awarded in 2000 as one of the seven constituent awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards.[1] The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people.[4] The first ceremony was held on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, at which Nelson Mandela gave the keynote speech.[5] Nominations for the award come from a specialist panel.[1] The Laureus World Sports Academy then selects the winner who is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world.[6] The awards are considered highly prestigious and are frequently referred to as the sporting equivalent of "Oscars".[7][8][9]

The inaugural winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year, in 2000, was the American multi-sports athlete Shaun Palmer. It has been awarded posthumously on one occasion, in 2006 to the Italian hang glider Angelo d'Arrigo who was killed in an air crash in March of that year.[10] Americans are the most successful with nine awards, while surfers have been recognised most often of any sport with six awards; American surfer Kelly Slater is the individual that has received the award to most times, with four wins. The award has been presented to five women during its history: the Australian surfers Layne Beachley (2004) and Stephanie Gilmore (2010), the British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur (2005), and the British mountain biker Rachel Atherton (2017), and twice to the American snowboarder Chloe Kim, who won the award in 2019 and 2020.[3]

  1. ^ a b c "The awards". Laureus. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Seville is Host City for 2021 Laureus Awards". Laureus. 13 April 2021. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b Rayan, Stan (18 February 2020). "Laureus Awards 2020 Highlights: Tendulkar, Springboks win for World Cup wins; Hamilton, Messi share honours". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  4. ^ Snook, Ian (20 April 2016). "It's more than just an award". Taranaki Daily News. Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017 – via Stuff.co.nz.
  5. ^ Sugden, John; Tomlinson, Alan (30 April 2017). Sport and Peace-Building in Divided Societies: Playing with Enemies. Taylor and Francis. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-136-29233-0. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Did you know?". Laureus. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  7. ^ Radford, Paul (25 May 2000). "Woods and Jones sweep Sporting Oscars". International Athletic Associations Federation. Reuters. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  8. ^ Lewis, Aimee (15 February 2017). "Usain Bolt and Simone Biles dominate at 'Sport's Oscars'". CNN. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Nico Rosberg mit dem Sport-Oscar geehrt". Die Welt (in German). 15 February 2017. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference darrigo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).