Sports for Peace honored the fighter Muhammad Ali in London 2012

MUHAMMAD ALI RECEIVED GREAT PRAISE AT THE SPORTS FOR PEACE GALA, WHERE HE WAS HONORED FOR HIS LIFELONG FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, HUMANITY, AND PEACE: “YOU ARE A GREAT FIGHTER FOR JUSTICE AND HUMANITY, YOU ARE THE GREATEST WORLD CHAMPION BOXER EVER, AND YOU HAVE BEEN AN INSPIRATION FOR FIVE DECADES,” WAS THE COLLECTIVE MESSAGE GIVEN BY WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO, BORIS BECKER, SIR CHRISTOPHER LEE, SIR BOB GELDOF AND THE CHIEF PROSECUTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, FATOU BENSOUDA, IN THEIR LAUDATION FOR THE “GREATEST OF ALL TIME” ON THE 25TH OF JULY AT THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM IN LONDON. THE FORMER FORMULA 1 WORLD-CHAMPION LEWIS HAMILTON PRESENTED THE “SPORTS FOR PEACE HONORARY AWARD 2012” TO THE FIRST EVER 3-TIME WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AND WINNER OF THE GOLD MEDAL AT THE 1960 OLYMPIC GAMES IN ROME.

LONDON

ON THE HISTORIC OCCASION OF THE XXX. OLYMPIC GAMES 2012 IN LONDON THE INITIATIVE “SPORTS FOR PEACE“ HOSTED A GALA ON JULY 25 AT THE VICTORIA&ALBERT MUSEUM IN ORDER TO HIGHLIGHT HUMANITY THROUGH SPORTS AND HONOUR MUHAMMAD ALI, THE GREATEST ICON OF OUR TIME. THIS EVENING CELEBRATED ALI`S SIX CORE VALUES AS THEY RELATE TO THE OLYMPIC IDEALS, WHILE RAISING AWARENESS FOR THE MUHAMMAD ALI CENTER AND PARKINSON RESEARCH.
THE AIM OF THIS EVENING IS TO CELEBRATE THE OLYMPIC VALUES AND MUHAMMAD ALI’S SIX CORE VALUES: RESPECT, CONFIDENCE, CONVICTION, DEDICATION, GIVING AND SPIRITUALITY.

THE GALA TOOK PLACE AT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM. THE EVENING STARTED WITH A RECEPTION IN ONE OF LONDON’S MOST BEAUTIFUL GARDENS AND WAS FOLLOWED BY A BLACK-TIE GALA DINNER & CEREMONY IN THE PRESTIGIOUS RAPHAEL GALLERY WHICH HOUSES SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SURVIVING EXAMPLES OF RENAISSANCE ART IN THE WORLD INCLUDING SEVEN RAPHAEL CARTOONS DATING BACK TO 1516.

Sports for Peace was set up during the preliminary stages of the Olympic Games 2008 to address the question of whether sport or major sporting events can foster common ideals. In “Sports for Peace”, athletes from all over the world come together to promote the values of sport, such as fair play, tolerance, the Olympic ideal of freedom, international and intercultural understanding. As a politically independent initiative, “Sports for Peace” offers a neutral basis to foster the spirit of fair play, the sense of community and the elimination of prejudice. The initiative is based in Berlin.