Photo: Mexican Swimmer Laura Vaca Win 2011 Jean Borotra World Fair Play Trophy
Mexican swimmer Laura Vaca Hernandez has received the 2011 Jean Borotra World Fair Play Trophy from the International Fair Play Committee in recognition of her more than 40-year career, a Hungarian Olympic Committee spokesman said.
The 59-year-old Vaca, who competed in the 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich Olympics, received the prize in Gödöllö, located northeast of Budapest.
Vaca, the first Mexican woman to win the honor, received the prize at the Gödöllö Royal Palace, Hungarian Olympic Committee spokesman Oliver Török told Efe.
Vaca shared the award, named for the French tennis great, with German table tennis player Walter Kilger.
The Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy went to Turkish jockey Erhan Yavuz, while German athlete Katrin Green, Venezuelan fencer Antonio Leal Piña, Luxembourgian cyclist Andy Schleck and late Russian ice hockey player Ivan Tkachenko received diplomas.
Hungarian opera singer Erika Miklosa and Hungarian fencer Pal Szekeres received the Willi Daume World Fair Play Trophy for promoting fair play.
Vaca was a world masters champion and broke two world records, one in the 400 meters in 2008 and the other as part of a relay team that crossed the English Channel in August 2007.
The Paris-based International Committee for Fair Play, which was founded by UNESCO in 1963, has the mission of promoting fair play around the world.
