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 Following Armstrong's 2013 admission of doping, all his Laureus awards and nominations were rescinded.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 (six to women, fifteen to men), although ten teams have been nominated – the England men's cricket team (2005), Miami Heat (2007), the Great Britain national rugby league team (2008), Crusaders (2012), Queensland Reds (2012), European Ryder Cup Team (2013), Germany Men's Olympic Eights Team (2013), Oracle Team USA (2014), FC Barcelona (2018) and Chapecoense (2018). Tennis players dominate the winners list, with seven awards, while athletes, golfers and rugby union players have won twice. The 2021 winner of the award was the Canadian snowboarder Maxence Parrot.