I was watching CNN International, and after covering the Super Bowl results, they moved to the topic of the Laureus Sports Awards being held in London. (They were calling it “The Sports Oscars”.) Well, they listed the nominees for the sportsman and sportswoman of the year for 2011, and there were six of each nominated. I couldn’t help but notice, however, that they left off the hands-down sportswoman of 2011: Miki Ando of Japan. She won the World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow after it had to be moved from Tokyo because of the earthquake & tsunami & nuclear disaster, and she did it while the tragedy was still being played out continuously on the news every night. She lifted the hearts of Japan and the whole world after this Biblical-scale cataclysm had devastated her homeland, winning the world title (again: she won in 2007 also) in one of the most popular sports in all of Japan at the perfect time to help lift the spirits of her grieving country, and it’s a grievous oversight that the Laureus Sports Awards didn’t even nominate her. (Maybe they don’t think figure skating deserves their attention.)
It was great for their country when Japan won the FIFA Women’s World Cup (it was great: period!), but Miki Ando had already won her world title over two months ago by then. And she did it alone, out on the ice by herself, against the best Olympic women’s figure skater in history (based on score in a single Olympics), at the most important time for her home country, when they needed good news most of all. She rose above the pressure and the tragedy and brought the highest honor in her sport for that year home to Japan when they needed it most. There is no better sports story from 2011 than Miki Ando’s world championship win in Moscow, period. She is the sportswoman of 2011! I don’t mean to lessen anyone else’s achievement, but this was one of the greatest sports stories of all time! I’m sorry so few seemed to notice.
This is Miki Ando:
