Watch Kelly Slater's Emotional Laureus Awards Lifetime Achievement Acceptance Speech

Kelly Slater joined a very exclusive club last month when he was given the Laureus World Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement honor. A lifetime achievement award of any sort is a massive honor, but coming home with a Laureus statue has become akin to going to the Academy Awards and leaving with an Oscar. On top of that, the foundation doesn’t select a recipient of the lifetime achievement award every year. They’ve skipped naming anybody to the discretionary honor seven times since the awards began in 2000, including the previous two ceremonies (2023 and 2024) before selecting Kelly Slater as a 2025 honoree. He’s now in an elite club among athletes like Pelé, Billy Jean King, Tom Brady, Niki Lauda, and others.

This was Slater’s fifth Laureus. He was named Action Sports Person of the Year in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012 — a significant run considering the awards were conceived nearly a decade after Slater’s first world title.

Slater’s acceptance speech is now making the internet rounds and it’s worth a watch. He was brought to the stage after everybody in attendance was shown a short video of his career achievements, which added a little more emotion to the moment for him. His prepared speech was heavy on thanking the people honoring him and giving nods to other Laureus award winners. It also touched on his reverence for the surf community, the sport, and proving himself within our silly little culture that has so many written and unwritten rules and rites of passage that making your mark really is a lifetime pursuit.

“It’s strange to get emotional in front of a bunch of people I don’t know,” he admitted. He added, “I had to make a name for myself (in Hawaii) coming from Florida, surfing tiny little waves as a kid, and not getting that respect and having to earn it. To come all the way here, stand in front of the greatest athletes that have ever lived, and tell my little story that started in Cocoa Beach — I’m really proud.”