Bolt and Bekele on short list

Olympic and world champion sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica holds Lightning Bolt, a three-month-old male cheetah cub, at the Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters in Nairobi. Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

Olympic and world champion sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica holds Lightning Bolt, a three-month-old male cheetah cub, at the Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters in Nairobi. Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

World and Olympics champions among contenders for athlete-of-the-year award

LONDON Reuters

World and Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Kenenisa Bekele were among five contenders short-listed for the male Athlete of the Year award on Monday.

At this year's world championships Jamaica's Bolt added the 100-metre and 200-metre titles to the Olympic golds he won last year, when he was named the International Association of Athletics Federations' male athlete of the year, while Ethiopian Bekele did the same over 5,000 and 10,000 metre.

Also on the short list are American sprinter Tyson Gay, Australian pole vaulter Steve Hooker and Norway's javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen.

The women's shortlist will be released on Tuesday with both winners being announced during the World Athletics Gala in Monaco on Nov. 22.

Join the Discussion:

Sorted by: Oldest first
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Most thumbs-up

Latest Comments

Sponsored Links

Most Popular in The Globe and Mail