RAFA NADAL Nominated for LAUREUS Award - For WORLD Sportsman of the Year

My one-of-a-kind sports marvel, Rafa Nadal, has been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for winning the French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic gold medal to become tennis Numero Uno! Camino por recorrer, Rafa! Si, glad you asked. The sport's world has its own equivalent to the film industry's Academy Awards, in the annual Laureus World Sports awards ceremony. Sports media from 112 countries make the nominations and the winners will be selected in a secret ballot by 46 supersportstars, members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, including John McEnroe, Nadia Comaneci and Jack Nicklaus. The Awards are usually presented at an annual Awards Ceremony but this year's ceremony has been scrapped because of the global financial crisis, so the winners of this year's Laureus World Sports Awards will be receiving their Awards individually at a series of presentations during May and June.

"It seemed to us, with so many people suffering, that this was the wrong time to be staging this event," Edwin Moses, chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said in a statement. "This is the responsible thing to do."

Nadal goes up against the likes of :

• Usain Bolt from Jamaica, the first man to win 100m, 200m and 4x100m Olympic gold medals in world records.
• Lewis Hamilton from the UK, the youngest ever Formula One World Champion at 23 years and 300 days.
• Michael Phelps of the US, who won 8 gold medals in a single Olympiad to overtake Mark Spitz's record.
• Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal, FIFA World Player of the Year, scored 42 goals for Manchester United.
• Valentino Rossi of Italy, who beat Giacomo Agostini's record 68 500cc wins, and won 6th senior world title.

(These names were taken off Rafa's website..:)