Jamaican sprint stars Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce received the male and female World Athlete of the Year awards by the IAAF. PHOTO: AFP
Jamaican sprint duo Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were on Saturday named as the International Association of Athletics Federations’s (IAAF) male and female World Athletes of the Year for 2013.
The 27-year-old Bolt, who also won the award in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, successfully defended both his 100 and 200m titles at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow this summer, winning the latter in a 2013 world-leading time of 19.66 seconds.
He concluded his world championships by anchoring a Jamaican quartet to the gold medals in the 4x100m relay.
Bolt also won 10 out of his 11 100m races (including heats), and was unbeaten in his five races over 200m.
He beat off strong competition from British distance runner Mo Farah, who followed up on his 5,000-10,000m double at the London Olympics with two golds at the Moscow worlds.
“Wow, another IAAF athlete of year award,” tweeted Bolt. “I’m beyond honoured...Jamaica this one is for you guys.”
Fraser-Pryce, 26, regained her 100m title at those world champs, her winning time of 10.71s the fastest of the year.
She also clocked the fastest 200m time of the year (22.13) at the Jamaican championships in June and went on to win world gold in Moscow.
Like her compatriot Bolt, she also anchored the Jamaican 4x100m team to victory, a national record and the second fastest time in history.
Both athletes received a prize of $100,000.
The sole consolation for Farah was that his coach Alberto Salazar won the IAAF’s coaching achievement award.
The Cuban-born American has guided the career of Farah as the Somali-born Briton stormed to a famous distance double-double.
Bolt unhappy with Jamaica’s doping controversy
Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt said on Saturday that controversy over Jamaica’s anti-doping programme is scaring off potential sponsors and costing him money.
“There is a lot going on with this drug thing that I really feel they need to be clear [about] and clarify because now it is causing problems for me when it comes to making money in my sport,” he told a news conference in Monaco.
“It is really costing me money now and I am not too happy with that,” he said. “Track and field is my job.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2013.
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