Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year

Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year
Aitana Bonmatí, 2024 winner
Awarded for"the most remarkable women from the world of sport along with the greatest achievements fans have admired throughout the year."[1]
LocationMadrid (2024)[2]
Presented byLaureus Sport for Good Foundation
First awarded2000
Currently held bySpain Aitana Bonmatí[3]
Most awardsUnited States Serena Williams
(4 awards)
Most nominationsUnited States Serena Williams
Jamaica Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
United States Allyson Felix
United States Katie Ledecky
(5 nominations each)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year is an annual award honouring the achievements of individual women from the world of 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] As of 2020, a shortlist of six nominees for the award comes from a panel composed of the "world's leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters".[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 award was American sprinter Marion Jones, who, at the time of the presentation, was considered to be "the world's dominant sprinter".[7] She later admitted to having taken performance-enhancing drugs and, along with being stripped of her Olympic medals by the International Olympic Committee in 2007,[10] her Laureus Award and nominations (2001 and 2003) were rescinded.[11] The 2021 winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year was the Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka. Sportswomen from athletics are the most successful overall, with eight wins and thirty-one nominations (excluding Jones' rescissions). American sportswomen have won more awards and nominations than any other nationality, with ten wins and thirty-six nominations. Serena Williams holds the record for the most awards with four.[12] The 2024 award was won by Spanish footballer Aitana Bonmatí who became the first footballer to ever win the award.[13]

  1. ^ a b c "The awards". Laureus. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff nominated at the 25th Laureus World Sports Awards : All you need to know". Tennis Clubhouse. 8 April 2024. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Laureus World Sport Awards 2024 Winners & Nominees". Laureus. Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  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. ^ a b Radford, Paul (25 May 2000). "Woods and Jones sweep Sporting Oscars". International Association of Athletics Federations. 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. ^ Mole, Giles (12 December 2007). "Marion Jones stripped of Olympic medals". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference rescind was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Atwal, Sanj (3 September 2022). "Serena Williams breaks two records before retirement at US Open". Guinness World Records -gb. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Aitana Bonmati And Spain Take Home 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards". Forbes. 22 April 2024. Archived from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.