Meseret Defar leads IAAF Women Athlete of the Year Poll

Monte-Carlo – Meseret Defar of Ethiopia is currently leading the poll* of the IAAF Women Athlete of the Year, with Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea doing likewise in the men’s category.

Meseret has a substantial lead over World Indoor Pole Vault champion Fabiana Murer of Brazil and World Indoor and European high Jump Champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia.

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 selected 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.

Please read the profile of Meseret Defar, prepared by Sabrina Yohannes for the IAAF.

There are no Ethiopian candidates in the men’s category.

Click Here to Vote for Meseret.

In the meantime, you can check the status of the poll by visiting the IAAF website at: http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/athleteoftheyear2010/index.html, scroll down and click on “View Results” button.