The Hindu : Sport : Federer is Laureus sportsman of the year

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 18, 2005

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Federer is Laureus sportsman of the year

ESTORIL: Roger Federer's domination of men's tennis in 2004 was honoured with the 2005 Laureus world sports award on Monday as `sportsman of the year'. Britain's Kelly Holmes, who claimed Olympic gold in the 800 and 1,500 metres at Athens, was named `sportswoman of the year'.

Federer won three of the four Grand Slams and became No. 1 at age 23 last year.

"My main ambitions now are to win the French Open for the first time and to stay as the world No. 1," Federer said.

The competition

Federer fought off competition for the Laureus `world sportsman of the year' award from Michael Phelps, winner of six Olympic swimming gold medals in Athens, Morocco's 1,500 and 5,000m Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj, and America's six-time Tour de France cycling winner Lance Armstrong.

Also nominated were two motor racing aces, Germany's seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and Italy's Valentino Rossi, for his fourth world MotoGP championship.

Kelly Holmes was up against Russia's Olympic pole vault winner Yelena Isinbayeva, Sweden's heptathlon gold medallist Carolina Kluft, Holland's Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, the most successful cyclist in Olympic history, Russia's 17-year-old Wimbledon tennis champion Maria Sharapova and Swedish golfing great Annika Sorenstam.

Greece's unheralded soccer team received the team prize for winning the European Championship.

Award for Xiang

Liu Xiang was named `newcomer of the year' for becoming the first Chinese man to win an Olympic short-distance track event, the 110-metre hurdles.

Britain's Ellen McArthur, who sailed solo around the world in record time, was `world alternative sportsperson of the year'.

Italian F-1 driver Alessandro Zanardi, who returned to the track after an accident in which he lost both legs, received the `comeback of the year' prize.

The Boston Red Sox snared the inaugural `spirit of sport' award for the remarkable feat of winning their first American baseball World Series in 86 years.

The `sportsperson with a disability' award went to Canadian wheelchair athlete Chantal Petitclerc, who clinched five golds at the Paralympic Games, and Northern Ireland's Gerry Storey, who spent decades training boxers in a gym in Belfast, received the sport for good award.

The awards were announced at the annual Laureus World Sports Academy prize-giving ceremony at Estoril, a Portuguese resort near Lisbon.

The winners were decided by a panel of more than 500 journalists from 82 countries and the Laureus World Sports Academy, a jury of 40 legends of sport that included Germany's three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, England cricket great Ian Botham and Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci.

List of awardees:

Sportsman of the year: Roger Federer (Switzerland) tennis. Sportswoman of the year: Kelly Holmes (Britain) athletics. Team of the year: Greece, soccer. Comeback of the year: Alessandro Zanardi (Italy), Formula One. Newcomer of the year: Liu Xiang (China) athletics. Alternative sportsperson of the year: Ellen McArthur (Britain), sailing. Sportsperson of the year with a disability: Chantal Petitclerc (Canada) athletics.

Agencies

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