Bolt and Richards named athletes of the year
Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt and Jamaican-born United States 400
metres runner Sanya Richards were named athletes of the year here on
Sunday.
Bolt, 23, wooed the crowds again this year at the world athletics
championships in Berlin when he took the 100 and 200 metres individual
titles in world record times and also for good measure was part of the
Jamaican 4x100 metres winning team.
Those titles were added to the Olympic triple he won in Beijing last
year and came off the back of him starting his season with a car
accident. “It’s been an amazing season, but also a trying season,” said
Bolt, who broke his own world records with stunning 9.58 and 19.19
second performances at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
“To be named athlete of the year is such a great honour, it shows
that all the work we put in pays off.”
While Bolt knew the thrill of winning major titles already for
24-year-old Richards it was a virginal experience as the graceful and
attractive naturalised-American had flattered to deceive in Beijing
where she ended ith only a minor medal in the individual event.
However, she was majestic in Berlin putting Great Britain’s Olympic
champion Christine Ohuruogu in her place as she won the title and then
added a second gold in the 4x400 metres relay. “I was asked if this
feeling would be the same as being world champion and it really is,”
said Richards, who had previously been named World Athlete of the Year
in 2006.
“Considering the other athletes I was up against this year, I know
this must have been a really tough decision.”
Richards can be thankful for even having the chance to compete after
contracting the rare Behcet’s disease in 2007 and developing mouth
ulcers which at times made it too painful to eat and lesions on her legs
which felt like hot irons pressing on her skin. AFP |