Lionel Messi Creates History at the 2023 Laureus Awards

How did Lionel Messi make history at the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards?

Lionel Messi made history at the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards held in Paris, France. He became the first person to be named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and win the Laureus World Team of the Year at the same time. No other athlete so far has collected these two awards together.

Messi received these awards after leading Argentina to a great FIFA World Cup victory last year. Messi had earlier won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2020.

What are the Laureus World Sports Awards?

The Laureus World Sports Awards are given out each year to honour athletes and sports teams for their outstanding efforts throughout the year. This event began in the year 2000.

The world's media chooses the nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards. The awards are divided into several categories. The Laureus World Sports Academy members select the winners of the awards. These members are well-known athletes who have accomplished a lot in their respective sports careers. 

Who are some of the other winners this year?

Some of the other winners (apart from Lionel Messi) at the Laureus World Sports Awards this year are:

• Laureus World Sportswoman Of The Year- Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica. She is known as one of the best sprinters of all time.
• Laureus World Sportsperson Of The Year With A Disability- Catherine Debrunner. She is a para-athlete from Switzerland and is a wheelchair-track specialist.
• Laureus World Action Sportsperson Of The Year- Eileen Gu of China won this award. At the age of 18, she became the youngest Olympic freestyle skiing champion at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
• Laureus Sport For Good- This award is given to an organisation or individual who uses sports to improve the lives of children. This year's winner is TeamUp.

Has any Indian won a Laureus Sports Award?

In 2020, Sachin Tendulkar won the Laureus Sporting Moment Award 2000-2020.
In 2022, Neeraj Chopra became the third Indian to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards. In 2019, Vinesh Phogat, an Indian wrestler, was nominated. But they both did not win the award.

Let’s hope that one day an Indian will be named Laureus World Sportsman or Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year.