Defar, Gay Named World Athletes of the Year
Posted November 26th, 2007 at 2:00 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field
Meseret Defar and sprinter Tyson Gay were named the World Athletes of the Year for 2007 at the World Athletics Gala held in Monte Carlo last night.
Defar, 24, shattered her won world record in the 5000 meters, running 14:16.63 in Oslo in June, breaking her own previous standard by more than eight seconds. The reigning Olympic 50000 champion, Defar also won the event at the world championships and twice lowered the world best for 2 miles. She also set a world record indoors in the 3000, running 8:23.72 in Stuttgart in February.
“I don’t have word to describe how happy I am,” said Defar, who dedicated the award to women athletes in Ethiopia. Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele have earned the honor in the past, but Defar became the first Ethiopian to win the world governing body’s annual award.
Gay, 25, won three gold medals at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka last August, sweeping the 100 and 200 metres and running the third leg on the victorious 4×100m relay. In the 100, Gay clocked 9.85, relegating world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica to third. In the 200, he clocked 19.76, taking down Michael Johnson’s meet record. He was just the fourth athlete to collect three gold medals at a single world championships.
“To follow in Carl Lewis’s footsteps is just a great honor,” said Gay, referring to the nine-time Olympic gold medallist who won the inaugural world athlete of the year award in 1988.
The annual awards are presented by the International Athletics Foundation (IAF), headed by IAAF President Lamine Diack and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Both athletes received a cash award of USD $100,000.
Powell and Croatia’s world high jump champion Blanka Vlasic received awards for performances of the year. Powell broke his own world record in the 100 meters in September, clocking 9.74 seconds, while Vlasic, who won 18 of 19 competitions this year, was honored for her 2.07 leap in Stockholm to equal the third highest jump ever outdoors.
Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain, the world record holders in the marathon, were given the newly-created Inspirational Award. Ruth Bisibori of Kenya, the world junior record holder in the 3000m steeplechase, was given the Rising Star Award.
(c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Tags: asafa powell, athlete of the year, athletes of the year, Blanka Vlasic, carl lewis, gold medals, haile gebrselassie, IAAF, IAAF World Championships, inspirational award, International Athletics Foundation, Kenenisa Bekele, laqmine diack, medal, medalist, Meseret Defar, michael johnson, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Osaka, paula radcliffe, prince albert II, record setting performance, rising star award, ruth bisibori, tyson gay, World Athletics Gala, world championship, world record
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[…] By Bob Ramsak Ruth Bisibori of Kenya, the world junior record holder in the 3000m steeplechase, was given the Rising Star Award. (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission. … www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/11/defar-gay-named-world-athletes-of-the-year/ The Final Sprint (TFS) | The… www.thefinalsprint.com […]
November 27th, 2007 at 9:04 am