The Laureus World Sports Academy has announced the six nominations for its World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award, as part of the Laureus World Sports Awards 2009. The award celebrates sporting excellence across all disciplines and all continents, Laureus said.
Medalists from the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games dominated the nominations:
- Daniel Dias (Brazil), swimming.
- April Holmes (USA), athletics.
- Darren Kenny (Great Britain), cycling.
- Jonas Jacobsson (Sweden), shooting.
- Teresa Perales (Spain), swimming.
- Zhang Lixin (China), athletics.
The candidates were nominated by a specialist panel consisting of experienced representatives in the field of Paralympic sport and the Paralympic movement. The nominations were based on submissions from members of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The panel submitted the nominations to the Laureus Academy, who will elect the award winner.
“This has been a great year for sport, and the Academy is going to find it extremely difficult to decide who to vote for as winners, said Laureus Chairperson Edwin Moses. “This is always the case in an Olympic and Paralympic year, but we have had some very strong performances from the non-Olympic sports. I congratulate all the nominees.”
Laureus also stated that it and its partners have decided to forgo its full-scale Laureus World Sports awards ceremony for 2009, considering it inappropriate in light of the current economic situation. Instead, the winners of this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards will receive their awards individually at a series of presentations during May and June, and Laureus will focus in 2009 on supporting the funding and activities of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
