Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability
Diede de Groot, 2024 winner
Awarded for"the person who best demonstrates excellent athletic achievement and strong leadership qualities in a sport in the Paralympic programme"[1]
LocationSeville (2021)[2]
Presented byLaureus Sport for Good Foundation
First awarded2000
Currently held byCatherine Debrunner (SUI) (2023)[3]
WebsiteOfficial website

The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability is an annual award honouring the achievements of individual disabled athletes from the world of Paralympic 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 first winner of the award was the Australian wheelchair racer, Louise Sauvage, who had won three medals at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.[10] In 2002, Esther Vergeer, a Dutch wheelchair tennis player, was selected as the award winner. Described as the "most dominant athlete in the world",[11][12] Vergeer won 470 matches in a row during her career, collecting 284 titles, including 21 grand slam singles titles and 23 grand slam doubles titles.[13] She is one of two people to have won the Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award more than once, winning again in 2008; she was also nominated in 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2012. The Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias has the most wins, collecting the award three times with a further three nominations, while German racing cyclist Michael Teuber has been nominated the most times (four) without winning. The 2004 winner, Canadian sprinter Earle Connor, had his award and his 2002 nomination rescinded after he failed a drugs test.[14][15][16][17] Athletes have been the most successful at the awards with 6 wins and 28 nominations (excluding Connor's results), followed by swimmers with 4 wins and 19 nominations. The winner of the 2020 Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability was the Ukrainian-born American Paralympic cross-country skier Oksana Masters.[18] The award was not presented in the 2021 ceremony.[19]

  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. ^ Cite error: The named reference noms2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  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 9781136292330. 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 Association of Athletics Federations. 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 sauvage-win was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Harrell, Eben (1 July 2011). "Esther Vergeer Hits Wimbledon: Meet the World's Most Dominant Athlete". Time. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  12. ^ Madden, Ryan (11 December 2012). "The Most Dominant Athlete in the World – It's Not Who You Think". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Paralympic legend Esther Vergeer retires after 470-match winning streak". The Guardian. Associated Press. 12 February 2013. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Earle Connor (Rescinded)". Laureus. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Para-athlete sprinter Earle Connor suspended for doping". CBC News. 7 April 2016. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  16. ^ "Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year 2002 with a Disability - nominees". Laureus. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  17. ^ "Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year 2004 with a Disability - nominees". Laureus. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ "Laureus World Sports Awards 2021 – the nominees". Laureus. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.