GENEVA -- Former tennis star Gabriela Sabatini received an award Wednesday for promoting the role of women in sport.
The Argentine, a winner of 27 singles titles including the 1990 U.S. Open, was recognized by the International Olympic Committee in a ceremony at the U.N. labor agency.
She was awarded the Women and Sport trophy for "her work to promote and develop tennis in her country, among youngsters and particularly girls," the IOC said.
It cited Sabatini's funding of programs and tournaments for children in Argentina.
"After retiring from an active sports career in 1996, Gabriela Sabatini devoted the same strength and energy to her support work, with a view, in her own words, to 'giving back to sport something of the many things that sport gave to me,"' the Lausanne-based committee said in a statement.
Among others cited Wednesday was former middle-distance runner Charmaine Crooks, who won a silver medal for Canada at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and later became an IOC member.
