Swiss tennis genius Roger Federer, right, foreground, tennis legend Boris Becker, center, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, 2nd left, background, attend the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony held in the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg February 18, 2008.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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St. Petersburg Staged Laureus Sports Awards Ceremony
The Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg hosted yesterday the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attended the event, where Swiss tennis genius Roger Federer was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for the record fourth time in a row.
The sport equivalent of Oscar, annual Laureus Sports Awards honors the greatest sportsmen and women of the world. The ceremony has been held since 2000 and the winners are selected by jury of 43 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy. The prize is Cartier gold and silver figurines.
St. Petersburg won the right to stage the ceremony in tough competition with other enclaves of civilization and culture. The city was fighting to welcome Roger Federer, Bernie Ecclestone and Kimi Raikkonen in one and the same place.
Amid the sport stars that represented Russia during the event were Svetlana Khorkina, Alina Kabaeva, Anton Sikharulidze, all of them the State Duma members today.
St. Petersburg was the first to get the Cartier, and brilliant and shining governor of the city, Valentina Matvienko delivered a long speech to the crowd.
The sportsmen were admitted to the Laurence Academy on the same stage. Russia’s gymnast Alexei Nemov and Formula 1 racer Mika Hakkinen were honored by this membership.
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All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 19, 2008
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