Chapter 518: Laureus Red Carpet

Chapter 518: The Laureus Red Carpet

The 1202 Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony commenced at 8:00 PM local time on February 18th, broadcast live to the entire world.

The reach of the Laureus broadcast was immense, sweeping across more than 180 countries, with a global viewership exceeding one billion people; the broadcasting rights alone fetched a fortune each year, and its advertising revenue had surpassed 500 million euros several years prior.

At 6:00 PM, the guests began to arrive in succession, marking the beginning of the star-studded red carpet walk.

Due to the time difference, the clock in China had just ticked past midnight, crossing over into February 19th.

In previous years, truth be told, the Laureus ceremony barely registered in the ratings back home; relative to other nations and given China's massive population, the numbers were extraordinarily low.

The reason was simple enough: Chinese athletes were rarely nominated and even less frequently awarded, and with every broadcast falling in the dead of night, the audience dwindled further; even after the results were announced, the event barely trended, with very few people paying attention to who won what each year.

This apathy applied not only to foreign victors but to domestic ones as well; for instance, Xia Boyu’s win in 2019 for the Best Sporting Moment—the most recent Chinese victory—remained unknown to the vast majority.

The only period of heightened interest in the Laureus Awards within China traced back to 2015 or even earlier, during the eras of Li Na, Yao Ming, and Liu Xiang, after which attention plummeted off a cliff. This was not to say that Chinese athletes or their sporting prowess had declined, but rather that the sports favored by Laureus were simply not China's forte; to this day, the only athlete whose sport truly aligned with the Academy's taste was Li Na.

Tennis could genuinely be called the darling of Laureus, though it would not be incorrect to view it from another angle as the foundation upon which the awards stood.

To date, the athletes with the most, second-most, and Grand Slam total of Laureus trophies were all tennis players—the track and field legend Usain Bolt had also won four times, tying with Novak Djokovic for second-most—and every year, tennis figures dominated the nominations, particularly for the sportsman and sportswoman of the year, where at least one nominee from the sport was guaranteed in each category.

Why was this so?

First, tennis players possessed massive global influence; second, their commercial value was immense, consistently occupying the top three spots on the annual highest-paid athletes list; third, the spokespeople for Laureus’s sponsors, partners, and advertisers were predominantly tennis players, a connection that undoubtedly played a role.

Whether this was a virtuous cycle or a vicious one remained open to debate.

Nevertheless, the authority and prestige of the Laureus Awards were undeniable; though the Chinese public generally paid it little mind, they understood its weight, and if a Chinese athlete were ever to win one of the five major categories, it would spark an absolute frenzy of celebration.

In fact, strictly speaking, long before tonight’s ceremony even began, China was already abuzz with a level of fervor that eclipsed any previous year.

The online debates regarding whether Meng Fan would win began the moment his dual nominations were announced; while many felt victory was a certainty, a significant number believed his chances were slim, offering rational analyses rather than pessimism, though nearly everyone united in the fervent hope that he would triumph.

Meng Fan was one of the greatest athletes of this century—a sentiment born not from domestic hubris, for capturing five gold medals across three distinct disciplines in a single Olympic Games undeniably qualified him for such a title—and everyone hoped he would claim his due honors at this, the most influential and sole global sports ceremony in the world.

CCTV-5, the sports channel, carried the live broadcast, though it bypassed the full red carpet show, choosing instead to intersperse the most significant arrivals within its re-broadcast of the daily sports news; this included the walks of several Chinese members of the Laureus Academy, as well as two Chinese celebrities who had insisted on attending, and, of course, the indispensable red carpet appearance of Meng Fan.

Tencent Sports and several domestic sports websites provided full, uninterrupted coverage, and by midnight, a vast crowd had already gathered online; the viewer count far exceeded past years, and without question, this surge of interest was entirely for Meng Fan.

On Weibo, numerous accounts were providing live text and photo updates of the red carpet; this occurred every year, as it was a premier global sporting event featuring so many high-profile athletes that, in terms of sheer star power, influence, and market value, the Laureus Awards rivaled any major film festival, easily surpassing the Cannes Film Festival which routinely dominated Weibo trends.

Naturally, the Laureus red carpet lacked the frequent occurrences of uninvited coat-tail riders that plagued events like Cannes, or at least, such instances were far rarer here.

The world of sports boasted no shortage of handsome men and beautiful women, and when combined with the partners the athletes brought along, the glamour was redoubled. Abroad, the wives and girlfriends of male athletes were almost invariably stunning beauties, dominated by models, supermodels, Victoria's Secret angels, singers, and actresses, with anomalies accounting for less than one percent.

Thus, while the red carpet shone with star power, it was also an absolute feast for the eyes.

Clearly, this year's red carpet was about to welcome another exceptionally striking pair.

The reporters lining both sides of the carpet were well aware of the Chinese athlete Meng Fan's looks and charisma; if one were to rank the most charming global athletes, active or retired, even Western media—whose aesthetic standards differed somewhat from the East—would place this universally acknowledged most formidable athlete, radiating sunshine and masculine charm, firmly within the top three.

They anticipated Meng Fan, who looked exceptionally dashing in his formal attire tonight, yet they were not at all surprised; the true revelation was Wu Tong at his side.

Meng Fan's girlfriend—or more accurately now, his fiancée—had been mentioned in foreign media before, but not every reporter knew of her, or perhaps they had only heard rumors without expecting her to be so breathtakingly beautiful.

With a physique that rivaled any supermodel and features imbued with a distinct Eastern elegance and grace, she conquered the gathered media and their lenses the moment she appeared.

A handsome man and a beautiful woman, a perfect match, a match made in heaven!

The appearance of Meng Fan and Wu Tong caused the camera flashes to erupt instantly, and the eyes of foreign viewers watching the live stream lit up as their shared charisma burst through the screens, drawing gasps of admiration.

The bullet comments on domestic streaming sites surged with activity, people eating late-night snacks in front of their televisions paused their chopsticks, and screenshots began flooding the trending sections of Weibo.

Though the domestic audience had long grown accustomed to this couple who paraded their affection at every opportunity, they remained thrilled and excited, thoroughly enjoying the sight of the foreign media looking completely starstruck.