LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS FIRE THE GUN ON LONDON’S OLYMPIC YEAR
MOST SPORTSMEN keep their trophies in cabinets or on the mantelpiece. Golfer Darren Clarke uses his Open Championship silverware to pour wine.
“When I was serving the wine at Christmas from The Claret Jug; I thought ‘this is the life’,” said Clarke on the moment winning the Open on the twentieth attempt aged 42 finally sunk in.
The golfer’s perseverance in the tournament – “it’s been a long road”, said an emotional Clarke – was last night rewarded for a second time by the Comeback of the Year statuette at the Laureus World Sports Awards at Westminster’s Central Hall.
The annual sports industry awards, held for the first time in London in its Olympic year, are organised by Laureus, the joint venture between Mercedes-Benz-maker Daimler and luxury goods conglomerate Richemont, and this year attended by model Bar Rafaeli (right), and sporting stars including Boris Becker, Daley Thompson and Arsene Wenger.
The business world was represented by Richemont’s chief executive Johann Rupert, alongside the heads of the awards’ global sponsors: Georges Kern, CEO of watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen, Daimler board member Dr Joachim Schmidt from Mercedes-Benz, and Vodafone Group chief Vittorio Colao.
Richemont brand Cartier designed the nine 30cm-high, 2.5kg silver statuettes given out on the night, while Bryan Ferry provided the entertainment and Academy Award-nominated actor Clive Owen was the evening’s host, helped by actress Thandie Newton.
Tennis champion Novak Djokovic won the overall Sportsman of the Year award as he looks to win both the Olympic and Wimbledon titles this summer, while Paralympian Oscar Pistorius made the journey from South Africa to collect the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award after being nominated three times previously.
Sir Bobby Charlton, however, was unable to collect his lifetime achievement award in person after returning to Manchester earlier in the day to undergo minor surgery. Making a rare public statement on his behalf, Manchester United manager Sir
Alex Ferguson said he would take the statuette back to Old Trafford in person. “He loves the work he does for Laureus and I know how delighted he is to have received this tribute,” he said.