News Americas, LONDON, England, Thurs. Feb. 27, 2014: The world’s fastest man, Jamaican Usain Bolt, is no stranger to winning and he could very well take another award for a fourth time.
Bolt, the IAAF World Athlete of the Year for 2013 has been nominated for the 2014 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award.
Bolt, a three-time winner of the award and the recipient in 2013, leads the men’s nominations along with fellow double world and Olympic champion Mo Farah. Outside of athletics, the other nominees are US basketball player Lebron James, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and German formula one driver Sebastian Vettel.
The Laureus World Sports Awards recognizes sporting achievement during the calendar year 2013 and is the premier honors event on the international sporting calendar. The winners are voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time.
If Bolt were to win, he would tie the record of four Laureus awards, currently held by Swiss tennis player Roger Federer.
The 15th Laureus World Sports Awards will be unveiled at a globally televised Awards Ceremony staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Wednesday, March 26th.
Also nominated for this year’s award is another Jamaica, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the 2014 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year for 2013.
Double world champion sprinter Fraser-Pryce is joined by world pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, while other nominees include German footballer Nadine Angerer, US swimmer Missy Franklin, Slovenian skier Tina Maze and US tennis player Serena Williams.
The news comes as Asafa Powell, the former 100-m world record holder, will not find out on 10thApril what ban, if any, he is to serve for a failed drugs test last year.
The Jamaican, 31, tested positive for banned stimulant oxilofrine in June 2013 and faces up to a two year ban.
Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson could both be banned from athletics for up to two years
In final submissions in Kingston on Wednesday, his legal team appealed for leniency for what is a first offence.
Sherone Simpson, who failed a test at the same event, will receive her verdict on April 8th.
Both Powell and Simpson, who were provisionally suspended in July, argued for the minimum suspension, on the grounds of minimal fault.
However, Jamaica’s Anti-Doping Commission lawyer argued that they were negligent and had blindly trusted the physical trainer whom both blame for their positive tests.
The trainer – Chris Xuereb – denies supplying a supplement known as Epiphany D1, which contains the banned substance.
