LONDON, 9 March 2005 — Six-time Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong and men’s tennis number one Roger Federer were nominated yesterday for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award.
The pair will be up against American swimmer Michael Phelps, Moroccan athlete Hicham El Guerrouj, MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi of Italy and Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, the organizers said in a statement.
Phelps won six gold and two bronze medals at the Athens Games where he broke his own world record in the 400 meters individual medley. El Guerrouj completed the first 1,500-5,000 Olympic double since Paavo Nurmi at the 1924 Paris Games.
Athletes Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, Briton Kelly Holmes and Carolina Kluft of Sweden are in the frame for the women’s title, along with Wimbledon tennis champion Maria Sharapova, Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam and Dutch cyclist Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel.
