AS announces the winners of the AS Sports Awards as the sports daily celebrates its 50th anniversary

Rafael Nadal, Mireia Belmonte and Sebastian Coe are this year’s big winners

The AS Sports Awards have this year been awarded to Rafael Nadal, the swimmer Mireia Belmonte and British athlete Sebastian Coe. AS first hit newsstands on December 6, 1967 and on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the sports daily was also proud to pay tribute to the most successful athletes in each of AS’s five decades in print.

From the paper’s first decade, AS has singled out the footballer José Ángel Iríbar and tennis player Manuel Orantes as best athletes for the period 1967 to 1976. The decade 1977 to 1986 saw the honors go to the Spanish football team for its 12-1 victory in Malta and the Spanish basketball team for bringing home the silver medal from the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. The athlete Fermín Cacho, who won gold for the 1,500 meters at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the cyclist Miguel Induráin for five consecutive Tours between 1991 and 1995, and the Spanish football team, who also scored Olympic gold in Barcelona, were the winners for the decade between 1987 and 1996. Pau Gasol, as the leader of the Spanish basketball team when they were crowned world champion in Japan, and Real Madrid, for their seventh European Cup, won the honors for the decade between 1997 and 2006. And finally, the ten years from 2007 until today saw the tribute go to the athlete Ruth Beitia, gold medallist in Rio de Janeiro, and the Spanish national team, World Cup champion in 2010.

The prize for most promising newcomer went to Alejandro Davidovich, who won Wimbledon Junior in 2017 and was a semifinalist at Roland Garros.

The gala ceremony for the AS Sports Awards 2017 will be the the centerpiece of the paper’s 50th anniversary celebrations and will take place on Monday, December 4 at 7.45 pm at the Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid. The ceremony will be attended by a leading figures from the world of Spanish sport and wider society. The gala, will be presented by journalists Dani Garrido and Laura Martínez.

The ceremony will be broadcast via streaming at www.as.com