Vote for Meseret Defar of Ethiopia for IAAF Athlete of the Year Award
Monte-Carlo – The IAAF will select the 2010 World Male and Female Athletes of the Year at the World Athletic Gala here on November 21.
A total of 20 candidate athletes (10 male and 10 female), including Meseret Defar of Ethiopia, have been chosen and the International Amateur Athletics Association (IAAF) is giving the public the opportunity to vote for the top three in each categories.
Meseret Defar, who was voted IAAF Athlete of the Year in 2007, is an Olympic & World gold medalist and world indoor record holder in the 2 mile, 3,000m and 5,000m.
Some of the highlights of her performance in 2010 include a win in the 3,000m at the Sparkassen-Cup in Stuttgart, Germany; a victory in the 5,000m at the GE Galan in Stockholm, Sweden; her fourth straight World indoor title in the 3000m in Doha; a second place finish in the 5,000m at the African Championship in Nairobi, Kenya and in April, she became the first three-time women’s champion at the Carlsbad 5,000m road race in California.ÂÂ
Please read complete profile of Meseret Defar, prepared by Sabrina Yohannes for the IAAF.
The 10 Women Candidates are: Veronica Campbell Brown (Jamaica) – World Indoor champion at 60m. World leads at 100m (10.78) & 200m (21.98) and unbeaten at the longer distance.Milcah Chemos Cheywa (Kenya) –Seven out of 11 wins at 3000m Steeplechase and second in the other four races. Winner of the Diamond Race and Commonwealth Games titles and World lead of 9:11.71 Meseret Defar (Ethiopia) – World Indoor and Continental Cup titles at 3000m. World lead 14:24.79 at 5000m, set indoors
Jessica Ennis (Great Britain) – World Indoor and European champion at Combined Events with World leading marks at both Pentathlon (4937) and Heptathlon (6823). Allyson Felix (USA) – Diamond Race titles at 200m and 400m, World Indoor relay gold and wins in 14 out of her 15 individual races
Fabiana Murer (Brazil) – World Indoor and Diamond Race titles at Pole Vault. Set three South American records indoors and out. Nadezhda Ostapchuk (Belarus) – World Indoor champion, European champion and Diamond Race winner at Shot Put, winning 12 times out of 13. Olga Rypakova (Kazakhstan) – World Indoor champion at Triple Jump. Won at Continental Cup with World lead and Asian record 15.25m. Blanka Vlasic (Croatia) – Eighteen out of 20 wins at High Jump including seven out of seven wins in the Diamond League, the World Indoor and European Championships and the Continental Cup where she tied the World lead of 2.05m. Anita Wlodarczyk (Poland) – World record breaker at 78.30m and European bronze at Hammer Throw.ÂÂ
There are no Ethiopian candidates in the men’s category.
