SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Alexei Nemov and Mika Hakkinen of Finland were named the newest members of the Laureus World Sports Academy on Monday.
Their election, announced at the 2008 Laureus World Sports Awards held in St. Petersburg, takes membership of the Laureus Academy, consisting of the world's legendary sportsmen and sportswomen, to 45.
Formula one driver Hakkinen, 40, won the world championships for the first time in 1998 and his second title came a year later in Japan. His victories came at a time when Michael Schumacher was at his most dominant, which underlines the size of his achievement.
He quitted F1 in 2001 and competed in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes Benz before retiring in November 2007.
The 31-year-old Nemov, one of Russia's gymnastics legends, won 12 Olympic medals in his career.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Nemov surprised everyone by producing the best gymnastics of his career - six medals including the all-around title - while struggling with recurring shoulder injuries.
Nemov's performances brought the house down four years later in Athens, and placed him in the middle of a judging controversy.
The judges re-evaluated his routine, and increased his score from 9.725 points to a 9.762 in response to outraged spectators' protest. But unfortunately he was still out of the medals.
The Laureus World Sports Academy is a unique association of the greatest living sporting legends, who vote each year to decide the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards.
They also act as global ambassadors for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, volunteering their time to visit projects in order to draw attention to the problems afflicting society today.
The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy includes big names like former footballer Franz Beckenbauer, ex-tennis player Boris Becker and Sebastian Coe, former Olympic champion in men's 1500 meters and now chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Games Organizing Committee.
