Roger has won his third straight Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award! Only losing to two players in 2006, Roger won three Grand Slams last year and added the Australian Open in January for his 10th career major championship. This makes him the first athlete ever to have won the award three times.
Roger beat off tough competition from home favourite Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso, former Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, captain of the victorious Italian World Cup football team Fabio Cannavaro, the co-holder of the 100m athletics world record Asafa Powell, and Roger's friend golfer Tiger Woods.
The Awards Ceremony, held in the presence of His Majesty The King of Spain, was attended by global figures from sport, entertainment, business and fashion. Among the members of the Laureus World Sports Academy present were: Giacomo Agostini, Marcus Allen, Franz Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Sergey Bubka, Bobby Charlton, Sebastian Coe, Nadia Comaneci, Deng Yaping, Marcel Desailly, David Douillet, Morné du Plessis, Sean Fitzpatrick, Dawn Fraser, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Tony Hawk, Mike Horn, Miguel Indurain, Kip Keino, Franz Klammer, Edwin Moses, Nawal El Moutawakel, Robby Naish, Ilie Nastase, Hugo Porta, Monica Seles, Mark Spitz, Daley Thompson, Alberto Tomba, Steve Waugh and Katarina Witt.
Among the guests were Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, star of films like Million Dollar Baby, Driving Miss Daisy, The Unforgiven and The Shawshank Redemption, and popular stars Eva Longoria and Kyle MacLachlan from US TV show Desperate Housewives, along with Argentinian super model Valeria Mazza and celebrated Spanish flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes.
Jordi Hereu i Boher, Mayor of Barcelona, said: “I congratulate all the winners. Barcelona has been delighted to welcome the Laureus World Sports Awards for the second time and we are very pleased with the results. It has been a wonderful opening to our ‘Year of Sport’ which began in March 2007 and which celebrates the 15th anniversary of the highly successful Olympic Games which were held in Barcelona in 1992.”
The Awards were presented in seven categories. The winners were:
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: Roger Federer
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year: Yelena Isinbayeva
Laureus World Team of the Year: Italian Men’s Football Team
Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year: Amélie Mauresmo
Laureus World Comeback of the Year: Serena Williams
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Martin Braxenthaler
Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Kelly Slater
