ABU DHABI: Usain Bolt and Serena Williams won the 2010 Laureus sportsman and sportswoman awards on Wednesday at a ceremony in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi.

Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter and winner of three Olympic gold medals, was named for his achievements in 2009, while American tennis player Williams won the women's award.

Taking the Laureus award for the second time, Bolt last year picked up three gold medals at the athletics world championships, setting world records in the 100- and 200-metre competitions.

Apart from the presence of a plethora of former and current sports stars, the ceremony, hosted by US actor Kevin Spacey, was attended by a number of Hollywood names, among them Hugh Grant, Gwyneth Paltrow and Clive Owen.

The winners are chosen by the Laureus World Sports Academy, made up of 46 former sporting greats, including World Cup-winning footballers Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Charlton, cricketer Ian Botham and three-time Wimbledon tennis champion John McEnroe.

The Academy is chaired by Edwin Moses, an American track and field athlete who won gold medals at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics.

Other awards went to Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters, who won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award, South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, who received the Laureus Disability Award, and three-time World Surfing Champion Stephanie Gilmore, from Australia, named Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year.