Optimum Sports: A glittering collection of the world’s greatest sports stars have been nominated for the 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards, following a ballot by the world’s media. Argentina’s charismatic football star Lionel Messi has been nominated for the third straight time for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award. His team FC Barcelona are also nominated as Laureus World Team of the Year for the fourth time.Surfing
legend and three-time winner Kelly Slater is nominated once more for the Laureus Action Sports Award. Czech tennis star Petra Kvitova and ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius are both nominated in two categories – Kvitova for Sportswoman and Breakthrough, while athlete Pistorius qualifies for the Breakthrough and Disability Awards. Dutch wheelchair tennis legend Esther Vergeer, a winner of the Laureus Disability Award in 2002 and 
2008, is nominated again. The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during the calendar year 2011, are the premier honours on the international sporting calendar. The winners, as voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 47 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, will be unveiled at a televised Awards Ceremony staged in London
on Monday, February 6. Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which supports 89 community sports projects around the world. Since its inception, Laureus has raised €40 million for projects which have improved the lives of more than one-and-a-half million young people.
