Rossi nominated for world sports gong
Added on Monday, February 15th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Rossi nominated for world sports gong
Valentino Rossi has been nominated for the prestigious Sportsman of the Year award at the 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards.
The nine-time MotoGP world champion is up for the gong alongside sprinter and 100m world record holder Usain Bolt, tennis world number one Roger Federer, World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi, Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele.
Rossi, who claimed his seventh premier class championship last season, was nominated after a poll of the world’s media, ahead of some notable names, including F1 world champion Jenson Button. The shortlisting follows his nomination for the same award last year, which was won by Bolt
The winner of the award will be announced at the Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, on March 10.
“This has been a great year for sport and the Academy are going to find it extremely difficult to decide who to vote for as winners,” said Laureus World Sports Academy Chairman Edwin Moses. “We have had some thrilling world championships this year and a host of terrific individual performances. I congratulate all the nominees and now we look forward to what should be a great Awards Ceremony.”
The nominees in full are:
Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) Athletics – first 5,000 & 10,000m double in World Championships.
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) Athletics – won 100m, 200m & 4x100m relay World Championship gold medals.
Alberto Contador (Spain) Cycling – won his second Tour de France in three years.
Roger Federer (Switzerland) Tennis – broke Pete Sampras record for most Grand Slam singles titles won.
Lionel Messi (Argentina) Football – FIFA World Player of the Year, a star in Barcelona’s brilliant year.
Valentino Rossi (Italy) Motor Cycling – won his seventh senior MotoGP world title.
