ABs, Lomu Up For World Sports Awards
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Just Grand ... the victorious All Blacks
©Getty Images / Ross Land
07/04/2006
Marc Hinton
The All Blacks have been nominated alongside the world's finest sporting teams for a major gong at the 2006 Laureus World Sports Awards, while Jonah Lomu's remarkable comeback to the rugby field has also been recognised among the year's finest achievements.
Both the All Blacks and Lomu found themselves among the sporting luminaries on the shortlist for the awards when nominations for achievements in the 2005 sporting year were announced.
The All Blacks, who won 11 of their 12 tests in 2005 including a clean sweep of the British and Irish Lions and a Grand Slam of the four Home Unions, are among six sides competing for World Team of the Year.
The others are Barcelona and Liverpool in football, the Croatioan Davis Cup-winning tennis lineup, Renault's Formula One world champions and the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA who won their third title in seven years.
Lomu is on the shortlist for World Comeback of the Year for his stunning effort in making a full return to the rugby field after undergoing a life-saving kidney transplant. He is currently finishing a season with the Cardiff Blues in Wales and will return to play in the Air NZ Cup with North Harbour.
Other contenders for the comeback prize include tennis stars Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters, golfer Colin Montgomerie, Swedish high jumper Kasja Bergqvist and downhill skier Antoine Deneriaz.
The Laureus World Sports Awards are the only global sports awards honouring the greatest sportsmen and women across all sports each year.
The winners are selected by the 42 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, a collection of the world's greatest sportsmen and women. They will be announced during a televised Awards Ceremony in Barcelona on May 22. 2006.
Nominations are:
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year:
Fernando Alonso (Spain) - youngest winner of the Formula One World Championship
Lance Armstrong (US) - winner of Tour de France cycle race for record seventh time
Roger Federer (Switzerland) - winner of three Grand Slam tennis events
Ronaldinho (Brazil) - flamboyant football playmaker with Brazil and FC Barcelona
Valentino Rossi (Italy) - winner of fifth World MotoGP Championship
Tiger Woods (US) - winner of US Masters and Open Championship golf majors
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year:
Kim Clijsters (Belgium) - winner of US Open and eight other tennis tournaments in 2005
Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - winner of World Championship 5,000m and 10,000m double
Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia) - broke pole vault 5 metres barrier, IAAF Athlete of Year
Carolina Kluft (Sweden) - winner of World Championship heptathlon
Janica Kostelic (Croatia) - winner of record fourth Winter Olympics gold medal in Turin
Paula Radcliffe (UK) - won her first global gold medal in World Championship marathon
Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) - won 10 of 20 golf tournaments she entered, including two majors
Laureus World Team of the Year:
FC Barcelona (Spain) - winners of Spanish football's La Liga and Supercopa de Espana
Croatia Davis Cup Team - winners for the first time of the Davis Cup
Liverpool (UK) - winners of the European Champions League for the fifth time
The All Blacks - dominant international rugby team of the year, winning 11 out of 12 matches
Renault (France) - won Formula One Constructors World Championship
San Antonio Spurs (US) - won NBA Finals for the third time in seven years
Laureus World Newcomer of the Year:
Paula Creamer (US) - aged 19, winner of four golf tournaments in her rookie year
Lionel Messi (Argentina) - aged 18, captain of winning Under-20 World Cup football team
Andrew Murray (UK) - aged 18, winner of his first ATP tennis event
Rafael Nadal (Spain ) - aged 19, won French Open tennis, plus ten other events in 2005
Danica Patrick (US) - aged 23, first female driver to lead the Indianapolis 500, ultimately finishing 4th
Ben Roethlisberger (US) - aged 24, youngest quarterback to play in a Super Bowl winning team
Laureus World Comeback of the Year:
Kajsa Bergqvist (Sweden) - won World Championship high jump gold after serious injury
Kim Clijsters (Belgium) - winner of US Open tennis after being injured for a year
Antoine Deneriaz (France) - winner of Olympic downhill gold after serious training accident
Martina Hingis (Switzerland) - won Australian Open mixed doubles after three year absence
Jonah Lomu (New Zealand) - returned to rugby after serious kidney disorder
Colin Montgomerie (UK) - won record eighth golf European Order of Merit after slump in form
Laureus World Alternative Sportsperson of the Year:
Angelo d'Arrigo (Italy) - established a new height record for hang-gliding in 2005
Chelsea Georgeson (Australia) - first to win the women's triple crown of surfing
Tanner Hall (US) - only freeskier to win a gold medal in every Winter X-Games since 1999
Kelly Slater (US) - won an unprecedented seventh world surfing championship at 33
Jeremy Stenberg (US) - won Winter X-Games gold for best trick in freestyle motocross
Danny Way (US) - jumped the Great Wall of China on a skateboard
Shaun White (US) - won men's snowboard half-pipe gold medal at the Winter Olympics
