Winners of Laureus Sports Awards 2017
Celebrating the great personalities of World Sport here in Monaco
At the ceremony, that took place last night at the Salles des Etoiles in Monaco, Usain Bolt and Simone Biles were named Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year, following their outstanding performances in 2016.
They are the little and large of sport - Usain stands at 1.95m, while Simone measures just 1.45m – but they were both giants at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and enjoyed an ecstatic welcome as they received their Statuettes at the Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony. Bolt joins sporting greats Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Kelly Slater as four-time Laureus Award winner.
The Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games produced three more Laureus winners: Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all-time, won Comeback of the Year after he returned to swimming and scooped five more gold medals; Italy’s Beatrice Vio, the only quadruple amputee in international wheelchair fencing, won the Disability Award, and the Olympic Refugee Team, led by Tegla Loroupe, won the Laureus Sport for Good Award for Sporting Inspiration.
There were two Awards for British sport: the world’s greatest downhill mountain biker Rachel Atherton won the Action Sportsperson of the Year, while Leicester City won a special Laureus Spirit of Sport Award to mark their remarkable achievement in winning English football’s Premier League as 5,000-1 outsiders.
The gala evening was hosted by British actor Hugh Grant and attended by sports, music and TV personalities from across the globe, as well as the Monaco royals, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene.
