Laureus World Sports Academy Chairman Edwin Moses has paid a heartfelt tribute to Nelson Mandela, the Patron of Laureus, following the death of the former President of South Africa in Johannesburg yesterday.
“On behalf of the Laureus World Sports Academy, I would like to say this is a very sad day,” Moses said. “Nelson Mandela was a great and a good man. We have lost one of the truly immense figures in the history of our world. We would like to send our condolences to his family and to his nation.”
Former President Mandela played a significant role in the creation of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and was an inspiration to its work for more than a decade.
Moses added: “Many tributes will be paid to him for what he did for his nation, for the unity of his people, for his steadfast beliefs and for the magnanimity he showed when he became President of South Africa and I whole-heartedly concur with all that. But my most vivid memory of him is the role he played in the creation of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
“He will be sadly missed as a father figure by Laureus and as a world statesman, but Laureus will now aim to continue its work with even greater resolve to perpetuate the memory of President Mandela and to do our best to use sport to change the world and improve people’s lives, as he wanted us to.”