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What can we take away from the 2023 sporting year? Who shone in the stadiums? Who stood out in the pools? This is Beirut takes a look at the top sportsmen and women ranked by major sports media.
L’Équipe newspaper chose the right front page to announce the two Champions of World Champions2023: “Les Titans.” The winners are true giants of world sport: Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic and American gymnast Simone Biles. Both are constantly pushing the boundaries of their sport, improving their records and adding to their trophy cabinet. Djoko won three Grand Slams this year (Australian Open, French Open and US Open) and was a finalist at Wimbledon. He now has the most Grand Slam titles (24) and is also the record holder for most Masters victories (7). Simone Biles enjoyed another memorable year after a two-year break due to mental health problems. A four-time world champion (individual and team all-around, floor, beam), Biles now has 23 world titles to her name.
The men’s ranking shows the richness of the men’s sport and the high level of performance: in second place Léon Marchand (three-time world swimming champion, with Michael Phelps’ 400m medley record), Max Verstappen (F1 world champion for the third time running, with a record number of wins over the season), Noah Lyles (athletics), Siya Kolisi (world rugby champion), Marco Odermatt (skiing), Johannes Boe (biathlon), Tadej Pogacar (cycling), Mathieu van der Poel (cycling) and Erling Haaland (soccer).
On the women’s side, two Americans, skier Mikaela Shiffrin (three medals at the Alpine Skiing World Championships, leader of the World Cup standings and absolute record for career race wins) and swimmer Katie Ledecky (double world champion in swimming, she also beat Michael Phelps’ number of individual titles) took the second and third steps of the podium.
The Champion des Champions France de l’Équipe trophy went to the “4 Fantastiques:” two phenomena of French sport, the swimmer Leon Marchand, who could be the undisputed Sportsman of the Year 2024 if he succeeds in his Olympic Games in Paris, and the unexpected revelation, the golfer Céline Boutier, who had an incredible season with four victories on the American circuit, including a Major. L’Équipe also crowned, for the first time, two para-sport athletes, Heïdi Gaugain and Alexandre Léauté, both para-cyclists.
The Eurosport rankings are also eagerly awaited by sports fans. The mixed ranking of international sportsmen and women of the year rewarded Novak Djokovic, Max Verstappen, Noah Lyles and Armand Duplantis, sportsman of the year 2022 and still untouchable in his discipline (pole vault). The ranking of French sportsmen and women rewarded Léon Marchand, Julia Simon, who won the crystal globe in biathlon, and Céline Boutier.
The Ballon d’Or France Football was awarded to world champion Lionel Messi for the 8th time, much to the dismay of Erling Haaland (Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble with Manchester City) and Kylian Mbappé (top scorer at the Football World Cup). Haaland will console himself with the titles of UEFA Best Player 2023 and Premier League Best Player. At the age of 23, he was ruthless in front of goal, scoring 52 goals in 53 games across all competitions.
In athletics, for the first time in its history, World Athletics opted to divide the World Athlete Awards into three event categories: track and field, field and off-stadium. The jury found it incredibly difficult to limit the vote to a single athlete, due to the large number of disciplines and the great differences in the skills required. Six athletes were thus crowned World Athletes of the Year 2023, Noah Lyles (sprint), Mondo Duplantis (pole vault) and Kelvin Kiptum (marathon) for the men, Faith Kipyegon (1500 and 5000 meters) and Yulimar Rojas (triple jump) and Tigist Assefa (marathon) for the women.
In England, goalkeeper Mary Earps had an incredible year and was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023 (there is only one ranking for men and women combined). At 30, she is the second female footballer in history to win this prestigious award, which has been presented since 1954.
In the United States, the leading sports magazine Sports Illustrated (SI) named, for a change, American soccer coach Deion Sanders “Sportsperson of the Year 2023” for revitalizing the soccer program at Colorado Buffaloes University. According to the jury, in less than a year, Deion has accomplished much more than simply transforming the team. He has breathed new energy into the campus and transformed an entire community.
The year 2024 is shaping up to be a grand one, with the Olympic Games in Paris and the European Football Championship in Germany. One needs to be very strong to make it into the future rankings.
Until then, stay fit!