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Second Laureus Award for Vergeer

© 1999-2007 Laureus

From International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
18 February 2008

Bonn, Germany – Yesterday, Dutch Wheelchair Tennis player Esther Vergeer was named Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability at the ninth Laureus World Sports Awards. The award was presented by Laureus World Sports Academy members Ilie Nastase and Marcel Desailly at a ceremony held at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Esther is one of the greatest Wheelchair Tennis players of all time. She has dominated her sport for many years and in 2007, she won all her singles matches during the year, four Grand Slam tournaments, remained No. 1 in the singles rankings, won the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters and was a member of the Dutch women’s team which won the World Team Cup. She was the winner of the 2002 Laureus World Sportsperson with a Disability Award and was a nominee in 2006 and 2007. After winning the award Esther stated: “I am really honoured to receive this award for the second time today and I would like to thank everyone who has helped me to achieve this.”

Other nominees in the category for Laureus Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability were Daniel Dias (Swimming, Brazil), Michael Teuber (Cycling, Germany), Sarah Storey (Cycling, Great Britain) and Darren Kenny (Cycling, Great Britain). Paralympic Medal winner Oscar Pistorius (Athletics, South Africa) was nominated in the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year category.

The prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards honour the world’s best sportsmen and women and celebrate sporting excellence across all disciplines and continents each year. The winners are selected by a jury, including members of the Laureus World Sports Academy. The Awards are bestowed in a range of categories, including World Sportsman and World Sportswoman of the Year, World Team of the Year, World Breakthrough of the Year, World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and World Action Sportsperson of the Year.

The globally televised Awards Ceremony was again hosted by television star Cuba Gooding Jr. and featured many well-known personalities including Russian President Vladimir Putin, actors Kim Cattrall and Kyle Mac Lachlan, Vladimir Klitschkow and famous ballett dancer Uliana Lopatkina.

For more information, please visit the official website at http://www.laureus.com.

__________

Notes to the Editor:

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International Federation for nine sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions. The IPC is committed to enabling Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and to developing sport opportunities for all persons with a disability from the beginner to elite level. In addition, the IPC aims to promote the Paralympic values, which include courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

Founded on 22 September 1989, the IPC is an international non-profit organization formed and run by 162 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) from five regions and four disability specific international sports federations (IOSDs). The IPC Headquarters and its management team are located in Bonn, Germany.

For further information, please contact Steffi Klein, IPC Media and Communication Senior Manager, on tel: +49-228-2097-230, e-mail: or go to http://www.paralympic.org.