Bolt and Richards named World Athletes of the Year
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24.11.2009
World Athlete of the Year Usain Bolt
of Jamaica.
World Athlete of the Year Sanya
Richards of the USA.
Double Olympic and world champion Usain
Bolt of Jamaica and 400m world champion Sanya
Richards of the USA were crowned as the World Athletes of the Year 2009 at the
World Athletics Gala in Monte Carlo on Sunday.
Bolt, who captivated the attention of the
sporting world with his world 100m and 200m gold medals with new world records,
earned the honour for the second consecutive year.
Richards dominated the women's 400m, producing seven of the year's 10 fastest
performances, and finally won her first world title. Richards was previously
named World Athlete of the Year in 2006.
Four European athletes were shortlisted
as finalists for the 2009 World Athlete of the Year Awards.
The impressive line-up of finalists included
the winners of the 2008 European Athlete of the Year Awards, Javelin world
champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway and Pole Vault world record holder
Yelene Isinbayeva of Russia. High Jump world champion Blanka Vlašic of Croatia and Hammer world champion and world
record holder Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland were also shortlisted for
the coveted awards.
