Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year
The Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year is an annual award honouring the achievements of those individuals or teams who have made a comeback performance in the world of sports. It was first awarded in 2000 as one of the seven constituent awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards. The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. The first ceremony was held on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, at which Nelson Mandela gave the keynote speech., a shortlist of six nominees for the award comes from a panel composed of the "world's leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters". The Laureus World Sports Academy then selects the individual winner or winning team who is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. The awards are considered highly prestigious and are frequently referred to as the sporting equivalent of the "Oscars".
The inaugural winner of the award was American road cyclist Lance Armstrong. Having recovered from testicular cancer, which had spread to his brain, lungs and abdomen, he returned to cycling in 1998 and won the 1999 Tour de France. Following Armstrong's 2013 admission of doping, all his Laureus awards and nominations were rescinded., the award has been won by a different individual sportsperson every year, although ten teams have been nominated – the England men's cricket team, Miami Heat, the Great Britain national rugby league team, Crusaders, Queensland Reds, European Ryder Cup Team, Germany Men's Olympic Eights Team, Oracle Team USA, FC Barcelona and Chapecoense. Tennis players dominate the winners list, with seven awards, while athletes, golfers and rugby union players have won twice. The 2020 winner of the award was the German racing driver Sophia Flörsch.
List of winners and nominees
| Year | Image | Winner | Nationality | Sport | Nominees | Refs |
| 2000 | * | Cycling | Andre Agassi – tennis Ludmila Engquist – athletics | |||
| 2001 | Tennis | Heike Drechsler – athletics Janica Kostelić – alpine skiing Mario Lemieux – ice hockey Dara Torres – swimming | ||||
| 2002 | Tennis | John Daly – golf Michael Jordan – basketball Bernhard Langer – golf Mario Lemieux – ice hockey | ||||
| 2003 | Ronaldo | Football | Janica Kostelić – alpine skiing Hermann Maier – alpine skiing Pete Sampras – tennis Franziska van Almsick – swimming | |||
| 2004 | Alpine skiing | Fred Couples – golf Inge de Bruijn – swimming Peter Forsberg – ice hockey Martina Navratilova – tennis Alex Zanardi – auto racing | ||||
| 2005 | Auto racing | John Daly – golf England men's cricket team – cricket Tadahiro Nomura – judo Paula Radcliffe – athletics Shane Warne – cricket | ||||
| 2006 | Tennis | Kajsa Bergqvist – athletics Kim Clijsters – tennis Antoine Dénériaz – alpine skiing Jonah Lomu – rugby union Colin Montgomerie – golf | ||||
| 2007 | Tennis | Drew Brees – American football Ben Curtis – golf Roy Jones Jr. – boxing Miami Heat – basketball Zinedine Zidane – football | ||||
| 2008 | Athletics | Christine Ohuruogu – athletics Great Britain national rugby league team – rugby league Jana Rawlinson – athletics Steve Stricker – golf Jonny Wilkinson – rugby union | ||||
| 2009 | Boxing | Anna Meares – cycling Greg Norman – golf Matthias Steiner – weightlifting Maarten van der Weijden – swimming Tiger Woods – golf | ||||
| 2010 | Tennis | Lance Armstrong* – cycling Jessica Ennis – athletics Brett Favre – American football Blanka Vlašić – athletics Tom Watson – golf | ||||
| 2011 | MotoGP | Carolina Klüft – athletics Merlene Ottey – athletics Tyson Gay – athletics Justine Henin – tennis Paula Creamer – golf | ||||
| 2012 | Golf | Crusaders – rugby union Eric Abidal – football Queensland Reds – rugby union Liu Xiang – athletics Sergio García – golf | ||||
| 2013 | Athletics | Anna Meares – cycling Ernie Els – golf European Ryder Cup Team – golf Germany Men's Olympic Eights Team – rowing Tirunesh Dibaba – athletics | ||||
| 2014 | Tennis | Yelena Isinbayeva – athletics Oracle Team USA – sailing Tony Parker – basketball Ronaldinho – football Tiger Woods – golf | ||||
| 2015 | Rugby union | Francesco Acerbi – football Diego Milito – football Jo Pavey – athletics Pierre Vaultier – snowboarding Oliver Wilson – golf | ||||
| 2016 | Rugby union | Jessica Ennis-Hill – athletics Mick Fanning – surfing Michael Phelps – swimming David Rudisha – athletics Lindsey Vonn – alpine skiing | ||||
| 2017 | Swimming | Ruth Beitia – athletics Juan Martín del Potro – tennis Fabienne St Louis – triathlon Nick Skelton – equestrian Aksel Lund Svindal – alpine skiing | ||||
| 2018 | Tennis | FC Barcelona – football Justin Gatlin – athletics Sally Pearson – athletics Valentino Rossi – MotoGP Chapecoense – football | ||||
| 2019 | Golf | Vinesh Phogat – freestyle wrestling Yuzuru Hanyu – figure skating Mark McMorris – snowboarding Lindsey Vonn – alpine skiing Bibian Mentel-Spee – para-snowboarding | ||||
| 2020 | Auto racing | Andy Murray – tennis Christian Lealiifano – rugby union Kawhi Leonard – basketball Liverpool FC – football Nathan Adrian – swimming |
Statistics
| * | Indicates totals which exclude rescissions |
| Country | Winners | Nominations |
| 4* | 26* | |
| 2 | 10 | |
| 2 | 3 | |
| 2 | 0 | |
| 1 | 5 | |
| 1 | 3 | |
| 1 | 3 | |
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | |
| 0 | 9 | |
| 0 | 5 | |
| 0 | 4 | |
| 0 | 3 | |
| 0 | 3 | |
| 0 | 2 | |
| 0 | 2 | |
| 0 | 2 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 |
| Sport | Winners | Nominations |
| Tennis | 8 | 8 |
| Athletics | 2 | 20 |
| Golf | 2 | 16 |
| Rugby union | 2 | 5 |
| Football | 1 | 8 |
| Alpine skiing | 1 | 7 |
| Swimming | 1 | 6 |
| Auto racing | 1 | 2 |
| Boxing | 1 | 1 |
| MotoGP | 1 | 1 |
| Basketball | 0 | 4 |
| Ice hockey | 0 | 3 |
| American football | 0 | 2 |
| Cricket | 0 | 2 |
| Cycling | 0* | 2* |
| Snowboarding | 0 | 2 |
| Figure skating | 0 | 1 |
| Freestyle wrestling | 0 | 1 |
| Judo | 0 | 1 |
| Para-snowboarding | 0 | 1 |
| Rowing | 0 | 1 |
| Rugby league | 0 | 1 |
| Sailing | 0 | 1 |
| Surfing | 0 | 1 |
| Triathlon | 0 | 1 |
| Weightlifting | 0 | 1 |