- Messi won the Laureus Best Male Athlete Award and Gu Ailing was named the Best Extreme Athlete
- 2023-05-10 09:47:59.0 Source: Xinhuanet
Author: Xiao Yazhuo
On the evening of the 8th, the 2023 Lawrence World Sports Awards Ceremony was held in Paris. Argentine football player Messi became the biggest winner. Team Award. Gu Ailing, a Chinese freestyle skier and two-time gold medalist at the Beijing Winter Olympics, won the Best Extreme Athlete Award.
After two consecutive years of online award presentations, this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony returned to offline and was held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in central Paris.
The star that attracted the most attention that night was the “ball king” Messi. With the achievement of leading the Argentine national team to win the World Cup again after 36 years last year, the 35-year-old Argentine defeated club teammate Mbappé and tennis player Nadal. , F1 world champion Verstappen, and pole vaulter Duplantis, etc., won the Best Male Athlete Award again after 2020. Unlike the last time he “shared” the award with Hamilton, this time Messi was awarded the award alone.
The awards ceremony that night also featured Chinese athletes. Freestyle skier Gu Ailing, who won 2 golds and 1 silver at the Beijing Winter Olympics, won the Best Extreme Athlete Award.
“It is a great honor to be recognized by Lawrence College. For me, the moment of receiving the award is a very short-lived honor, but it is a recognition of my long-term hard work.” Gu Ailing said in an interview. Before her, Chinese athletes including Yao Ming, Liu Xiang and Li Na also won awards in different categories in the Lawrence Awards.
“It is a great honor to be associated with these great athletes. At the same time, it is also a great honor for me to be the first freestyle skier to win this award.” Gu Ailing said. “The important thing is not only to celebrate winning this award, but to pass on everything that sports has taught me to more people.”
In the subsequent selection of the best team, Messi’s Argentine men’s football team stood out from candidates including Real Madrid men’s football, England women’s football team, and French men’s rugby team, and won the award. Messi also became the first athlete in Lawrence history to win both awards in the same year.
“This is the first time that I have exclusively won the Laureus Men’s Sportsman of the Year Award. In the past year, we finally won the long-awaited championship in the World Cup. It is a great honor to receive the Laureus Award.” Messi Said, “It makes me even happier that the team I played for in the World Cup was also recognized by Lawrence College. The mood when I was affected is an experience I will never forget.”
The Best Female Athlete Award goes to Jamaican sprinter Fraser Price. She broke the record at last year’s World Championships and won her fifth 100-meter gold medal at the World Championships at the age of 35.
In addition, the rising Spanish tennis star Alcaraz won the Breakthrough Award of the Year for his impressive achievement of becoming No. 1 in the world after winning the 2022 US Open. The Danish footballer Eriksson, who suffered a cardiac arrest at the European Championship two years ago, won the best comeback award. The award for best disabled athlete went to Swiss wheelchair athlete De Bruyne.