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The Laureus Spirit of Sport Award is an award honouring "those individual athletes or teams who, through their remarkable success, their refusal to accept defeat or their unquestionable contribution to the enjoyment of the game". It was first awarded in 2005 as one of the discretionary awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards. The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. The first ceremony was held on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, at which Nelson Mandela gave the keynote speech. The recipient is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. Although the Laureus Awards ceremony is held annually, the Spirit of Sport Award is not necessarily presented every time; it is one of a number of discretionary awards that can be given by the Laureus World Sports Academy. Since its establishment, no award has been made six times, in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2020.

The inaugural winner of the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award in 2005 was the American baseball team Boston Red Sox who won their first World Series for 86 years in the 2004 Major League Baseball season. As of 2017, five teams and four individuals have received the award. One of these individuals was honoured posthumously: Dutch former footballer and coach Johan Cruyff won the accolade in 2016, having died the previous month; his award was presented to his son Jordi Cruyff by fellow Dutchman Ruud Gullit at the ceremony in Berlin. No award was made in 2020; the most recent recipient of the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award was the American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn in 2019.

Recipients

Laureus Spirit of Sport Award recipients

Year	Image	Winner	Nationality	Sport	Notes	Ref
2005		Boston Red Sox	USA	Baseball	The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, capturing their first championship in 86 years.
2006		Valentino Rossi	ITA	MotoGP	Rossi won his fifth straight MotoGP Championship.
2007		FC Barcelona	ESP	Football	Agreement with UNICEF to fund support to children's AIDS-related programmes, and to display charity's name on their shirts
2008		Dick Pound	CAN	Administration	President of the World Anti-Doping Agency for eight years
2009	No award
2010	No award
2011	—	European Ryder Cup Team	Europe	Golf	Europe retained the Ryder Cup over Team USA with a win in the final pairing.
2012	No award
2013	No award
2014		Afghanistan national cricket team	AFG	Cricket	"In recognition of their swift rise in world cricket and their maiden qualification to the one-day World Cup"
2015		Yao Ming	CHN	Basketball	Huge increase in popularity of basketball in China as a result of his NBA career
2016		Johan Cruyff †	NED	Football	Posthumous award to "legendary" footballer and coach
2017		Leicester City F.C.	ENG	Football	Winning the Premier League by ten points despite being 5,000 to 1 outsiders
2018	No award
2019		Lindsey Vonn	USA	Alpine skiing
2020	No award

References

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8. ^ "The winners of the year 2018 are". Laureus. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
9. ^ Church, Ben (19 February 2019). "Lindsey Vonn wins Spirit of Sport award at the 'Oscars of Sport'". CNN. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
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11. "Spirited Rossi steals show at Laureus Awards". IOL. 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
12. Martorell, Joana Pérez (3 April 2007). "FC Barcelona wins prestigious sports award for UNICEF partnership". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
13. Newton, David E. (26 November 2013). Steroids and Doping in Sports: A Reference Handbook: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. pp. 198–200. ISBN 978-1-61069-313-4. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
14. "Winners – 2009". Laureus. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
15. "Winners – 2010". Laureus. Archived from the original on 9 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
16. "Rafael Nadal and Lindsey Vonn win Laureus awards". BBC Sport. 7 February 2011. Archived from the original on 7 February 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
17. "Winners – 2012". Laureus. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
18. "Winners – 2013". Laureus. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
19. "Afghanistan win Laureus 'Spirit of Sport' award". ESPNcricinfo. 27 March 2014. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
20. Coonan, Clifford (18 April 2015). "Laureus Sports Awards ceremony shows China's difficulties". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
21. "Laureus World Sports Awards 2016 Winners". Laureus. 18 April 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
22. "Laureus Awards 2017: Bolt, Biles, Rosberg, Atherton & Leicester among winners". BBC Sport. 14 February 2017. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.

• Laureus World Sports Awards
• Awards established in 2005