Bolt/Dibaba lead in IAAF awards
Published:Monday | November 10, 2008 | 12:45 PM
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Ethiopian distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba lead the contenders for the International Association of Athletics Federation’s, (IAAF) world athlete of the year awards.
The six finalists were announced today and Bolt is the only Jamaican listed.
Olympic 200-metre champion Veronica Campbell Brown and Melaine Walker, the Olympic 400-metre hurdles champions, did not get on the final list.
Bolt won three gold medals with world records in the 100 and 200 metres and 4 x 100 relay at the Beijing Olympics, while Dibaba broke the 5,000-metre world record by over five minutes in June.
In addition, Dibaba swept the women’s 5,000 and 10,000 in Beijing.
Ethiopia’s Kenenisia Bekele, who completed the men’s 5,000 and 10,000 double in Beijing, and Cuba’s Dayron Robles, who broke the 110-metre hurdles record in June and took the gold in Beijing, are the other men’s finalists.
The other women’s contenders are Kenya teenager Pamela Jelimo, who won the women’s 800 metres in Beijing and collected the one million jackpot by winning her event at all six Golden League meetings, and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who set the 24th world record of her career to win the Olympic gold with a vault of 5.05 metres.
The winners will be announced at an IAAF gala on November 23 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.