|
Hakkinen becomes Laureus member
19/02/2008 09:00 - (SA)
St Petersburg - Alexei Nemov and Mika Hakkinen have been named the newest members of the Laureus World Sports Academy.
Their election, which was announced at the 2008 Laureus World Sports Awards held in St Petersburg, takes membership of the Laureus Academy, a unique collection of the world's legendary sportsmen and sportswomen, to 45.
Laureus Academy chairperson Edwin Moses said: "It is a great honour for me to work alongside this most distinguished and awe-inspiring group of athletes who have come together in support of this unique organisation. They are a powerful force and it gives me great pleasure to increase their power by inducting two new academy members."
Twice Formula One world champion, Finland's Hakkinen, was five when he first started racing go-karts and won five karting championships by the time he was 18. After winning the British Formula Three championship, he won an F1 contract with Lotus.
But his launch into the big time came in 1993 when he joined Mercedes McLaren, out-qualifying star driver Ayrton Senna in his first outing. Things got better in the next race when he finished on the podium, 15 seconds ahead of Senna, at Suzuka.
Hakkinen, 40, won the World Championship for the first time in 1998 and won his second title a year later, clinching victory in Japan. That his victories came at a time when Michael Schumacher was at his most dominant underlines the size of his achievement. He retired from F1 in 2001 and competed in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes Benz before retiring in November 2007.
One of Russia's top gymnasts, Alexei Nemov, 31, won 12 Olympic medals and developed a considerable following. His sense of showmanship and his routines, packed full of exciting skills, have won him many fans. He had a unique style and elegance whenever he performed.
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Nemov won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Over the next four years he continually battled recurring shoulder injuries, yet he surprised everyone at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when he produced the best gymnastics of his career, once again taking home six medals, including the all-round title.
Although never regaining his form of 2000, Nemov competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics, mainly as an anchor for the fledgling Russian team.
Nemov's performances brought the house down in Athens, and placed him in the middle of a judging controversy. After performing a routine with several release skills in the high bar finals, the judges posted a score of 9.725. The outraged Greek crowd upon seeing the results interrupted the competition for nearly 15 minutes. The judges re-evaluated the routine, and increased his score to a 9.762, but still out of the medals.
The crowd continued their raucous protest, which only subsided after Nemov stepped up to the podium and pleaded for quiet for the sake of the other competitors. This incident produced a reconstruction of the scoring system which was implemented in 2006.
The Laureus World Sports Academy is a unique association of the greatest living sporting legends. The Academy members are the ultimate sports jury, voting each year to decide the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards. They act as global ambassadors for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, volunteering their time to visit projects in order to draw attention to the problems afflicting society today. The Laureus World Sports Academy share a belief in the power of sport to break down barriers, bring people together and to improve the lives of young people around the world.
The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy are: Giacomo Agostini, Marcus Allen, Severiano Ballesteros, Franz Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Ian Botham, Sergey Bubka, Bobby Charlton, Sebastian Coe, Nadia Comaneci, Yaping Deng, Marcel Desailly, Kapil Dev, David Douillet, Emerson Fittipaldi, Sean Fitzpatrick, Dawn Fraser, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Tony Hawk, Mike Horn, Miguel Indurain, Michael Johnson, Kip Keino, Franz Klammer, Dan Marino, John McEnroe, Edwin Moses (chairperson), Nawal El Moutawakel, Robby Naish, Ilie Nastase, Martina Navratilova, Alexei Nemov, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Morne du Plessis, Hugo Porta, Vivian Richards, Monica Seles, Mark Spitz, Daley Thompson, Alberto Tomba, Steve Waugh and Katarina Witt.
- SAPA
|
