Call for new Laureus category

Bill Murray had the considerable honour of hosting the 17th annual Laureus Awards and there was certainly an element of Groundhog Day as Novak Djokovic claimed back-to-back titles as the Sportsman of the Year while Serena Williams went two better by claiming her fourth.

At a glittering ceremony at the Berlin Exhibition Centre last week presentations were made to celebrate the greatest sporting achievements of 2015 while honouring remarkable individuals. These most-coveted of awards underpin the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation that supports more than 150 community projects around the world.

Tennis claimed both of the individual titles after both Djokovic and Williams claimed three Grand Slam titles apiece.

The New Zealand Rugby Union team claimed the Team of the Year thanks to their glorious World Cup win while their talismanic fly-half Dan Carter won the Comeback of the Year award after recovering from an injury that ruined the start of 2015 and ended with him winning the title of IRB Player of the Year.

Jordan Speith, nominated for the overall award after winning two Majors, had to settle for the Breakthrough of the Year, while Daniel Dias, the Brazilian swimmer, received his third Laureus award as Sportsperson of the Year with a disability.

Given the growth of triathlon in Bahrain there should be particular pleasure in the kingdom to see Jan Frodeno claim the Action Sportsperson of the Year. Having claimed Olympic gold in 2008 he became the first person to add the Ironman World Championship.

In a remarkable year he won the European Ironman in Frankfurt, breaking the course record by five minutes, while also winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Barcelona and Oceanside. The German is one of the Bahrain Endurance 13, a concept created by Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The Laureus Awards boast a similar voting base to the Oscars and, while not burdened with the same criticism, the results were surprising.

Each of the winners of the three main categories have had a good, if not great, year. However, has it been exceptional and record-breaking?

In the men’s category Lewis Hamilton dominated the F1 season although was perhaps undone by the way he figuratively and literally took his foot off the gas.

Footballer Lionel Messi, despite having won the Ballon D’Or and been the historical leader of one of the most successful club sides, is now seen as one of a bewitching triumvirate at the top of the field meaning his star does not shine in isolation and does not, therefore, appear to glitter as brightly.

No footballer has ever won the award which, perhaps, suggests Laureus needs a new category to highlight the best individual performance in a team sport.

Another challenge facing the voters, members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, a list of 55 that is effectively a ‘Who’s Who’ of the sporting world, is that several events participate in a season that is split over two years while voting relates to a calendar year.

Nevertheless, in an era in which a plethora of statistics are available at the click of a button (or less with voice recognition), it is possible to isolate greatness.

By way of example, in basketball the Golden State Warriors in 2015 completed their season by winning the championship with the third most wins in history while setting a franchise record 19 consecutive wins and setting a record as the most successful Western Conference side – all achieved with a rookie coach, Steve Kerr, who also set new standards.

At the start of the following season, also in 2015, they completed the best start in history winning their first 24 games and won every game at home from the end of January onwards.

This was in no small part down to Steph Curry who broke his own record for the most three-pointers in a regular season. At the start of the following season he was shattering his benchmarks throughout and, shortly before the awards were announced, obliterated his previous mark.

While I would personally have ranked Hamilton’s achievements ahead of Djokovic’s, I would have handed the award to Curry.

Despite the Warriors’ team achievements I would have thought that Barcelona’s accomplishments, or those of Mercedes, eclipsed those of the All Blacks. If they had not lost the Investec Rugby Championship to Australia I believe that they would have had a better case.

Mercedes simply drove into the distance in F1, setting a new team points record for the season, despite not having the benefit of a double tally in the final race. Barcelona, meanwhile, became the first team to win their domestic double and Champions League before claiming their third (a record) FIFA Club World Cup. By scoring 180 goals in 2015 in all competitions they broke Real Madrid’s record set the previous year.

While Williams was imperious in her domination of her event, narrowly failing to complete the calendar grand slam, I believe that her achievements were comfortably eclipsed by Austrian skier, Anna Fenninger who was the star of the World Championships, claiming gold in the Giant Slalom and Super G, before claiming the World Cup.

Yet, I would have elected American swimmer, Katie Ledecky, who dominated the freestyle events at the World Championships, winning five gold medals and setting three world records (to go with another three already to her name). In the process she became the first winner to claim every distance from 200m up to 1,500m.

Despite the glamour of the awards, this pales into insignificance compared to the real work done by Laureus as it uses the inspirational power of sport as a force for good.

Uniting people throughout the world, this unique organisation has raised over $100m to tackle violence, discrimination and disadvantage. In the words of its first patron, Nelson Mandela, Laureus is ‘providing hope where there was previously only despair’.