In the early morning of April 23 (Vietnam time), the Laureus Sports Awards took place for outstanding faces of world sports in 2023.
Novak Djokovic, Simone Biles, Aitana Bonmati and Jude Bellingham were the winners of the awards at the Madrid awards ceremony.
Many famous sports figures such as football players Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Raul Gonzalez and Patrice Evra, Olympic champions such as Boris Becker, Lindsey Vonn, Nadia Comaneci, Michael Johnson, Jessica Ennis-Hill, athlete Bryan Habana, tennis player Nicol David and world surfing champion Filipe Toledo also participated on the red carpet of the event.
7-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and sprint legend Usain Bolt awarded Djokovic and Bonmati respectively, while tennis player Carlos Alcaraz - also a Real Madrid fan - awarded Bellingham.
For Djokovic, this is the 5th time he has received the Men's Athlete of the Year award, voted by 69 great athletes at the Laureus World Sports Academy.
The Serbian tennis player ended 2023 with 3 out of 4 major titles in men's tennis - only losing to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
I think back to 2012, when I won the award for the first time at the age of 24. I am very proud to be here 12 years later, looking back at a year that has brought me and the fans a lot of excitement and success, Djokovic said.
Laureus mission of using sports as a strength for good has changed lives for 25 years and demonstrated the values of its founder, Nelson Mandela.
I would like to add my support to Laureus Sport for Good and the work they are doing to change lives around the world.
Next, Bonmati became the first football player to win the Women's Athlete of the Year award, after a golden year including Liga F and Champions League titles with Barcelona, and a World Cup victory for the Spanish women's team.
On a personal level, this midfielder also won the World Cup Golden Ball and the Ballon d'Or.
The Spanish women's team also became the first women's team to win the Team of the Year award.
As for Bellingham, he is enjoying his life in the Spanish capital. With a very high performance in Real Madrid this season's jersey, the English midfielder won the Breakthrough of the Year award at an event held just a few kilometers from the Bernabeu.
Meanwhile, Simone Biles of the US was honored with the Returneys of the Year award. After 2 years of absence, the athlete who won 4 Olympic gold medals won 4 titles at the 2023 World Artistic Physical Training Championship in Belgium.
In other categories, Arisa Trew became the first female figure skater to win the Action of the Year award. The 13-year-old Australian made history as the first female athlete to reach 720 (2 spins) in the air.
Diede de Groot is the second wheelchair tennis player - after Esther Vergeer in 2008 and 2002 - to win the Disabled Player of the Year award.
The Dutch tennis player won the championship after a historic 2023 when she extended her unbeaten streak to 127 matches, winning the Calendar Grand Slam for the third consecutive year - an unprecedented achievement in tennis history.
Finally, the Laureus Sport for Good awarded to the Rafa Nadal Foundation, an organization that uses sports and education to inspire more than 1,000 young people in economically disadvantaged communities in Spain and India.
Rafa Nadal, the show's sponsor and a five-time Laureus Award winner.
