Women’s soccer star Homare Sawa and female golfer Yani Tseng are among the favourites to be nominated for the 2012 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, along with a clutch of gold medal winners from the World Athletics Championships in Daegu – and ‘triathlon’s golden girls’ Helen Jenkins and Chrissie Wellington.
The names of the six Nominees for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, as voted by the Laureus Media Selection Panel, will be announced on 15 December. The eventual winner will then be chosen by the 47 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ‘living legends of sport honouring the greatest athletes of today.’
The Laureus World Sports Awards is recognised as the premier honours event in the international sporting calendar and the Awards Ceremony provides a high profile focus on the nominees and their sports, as stars of the sporting world come together to salute the finest sportsmen and sportswomen of the year. The winners will be unveiled during a globally televised Awards Ceremony in London on Monday 6 February 2012.
Following the frustration felt by elite triathletes and the wider triathlon community surrounding the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) Award – which saw no female nominations and the achievements of British triathletes overlooked, the recognition of Jenkins and Wellington by Laureus is much deserved.
The two British female triathletes dominated triathlon in 2011. Chrissie Wellington won her fourth Ironman World Championship title in five years, despite racing in Kona with a torn muscle after a bike crash two weeks earlier; andHelen Jenkins won her second Dextro Energy ITU World Triathlon Championship.
Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which supports 89 community sports projects around the world that have helped to improve the lives of more than 1.5 million young people.
