The Laureus World Sports Awards were established in 1999 by founding patrons Daimler and Richemont and are supported by its global partners Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen. The first ceremony was held on May 25, 2000 in Monte Carlo. According to Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary, “the word laurĕus is a Latin adjective meaning ‘of laurel’. In the ancient times, laurel was particularly associated with a ‘laurel crown or garland, laurel branch, as the ornament of Apollo, of poets, of ancestral images, of generals enjoying a triumph, and of letters containing news of a victory’.”
