Usain Bolt receives the 2008 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award

10/06/2009

The Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt, triple Olympic champion and World record holder in the 100m, 200m and 4x 100m distances has been awarded today with the 2008 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award. The prize giving ceremony has had place in Toronto, city in which the fastest man in the world will run tomorrow in the 100m race in the athletic meeting of this Canadian city.
 
Bolt has won the consideration of the Laureus Academy members because of his extraordinary performance last summer in Beijing. The other five finalists have been the swimmer Michael Phelps, the Formula 1 pilot Lewis Hamilton, the motorcyclist Valentino Rossi, the football player Cristiano Ronaldo and the tennis player Rafael Nadal. The Jamaican sprinter has received the prize from the hands of two other legends of the athletics history, Edwin Moses, president of the Laureus Sports Academy and Michael Johnson, athlete that in the year 2008 snatched the world record in the 200m from him.

Athletics has taken the two great prizes given by the Laureus Academy. Yelena Isinbayeba was appointed as the last year´s best sportswoman a couple of weeks ago, with Tirunesh Dibaba amongst the finalists, and right now Usain Bolt has just got such a great honour.

The Laureus Academy decided this year to cancel the Gala of the Laureus Awards due to the global crisis that is lashing us. The awards to the great winners have been given step by step.