News06 Feb 2012


Bolt, Cheruiyot and Jeter among prestigious international award finalists

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Bolt runs to fastest 100m of 2011 (© Gladys Chai van der Laage)

Usain Bolt, Vivian Cheruiyot and Carmelita Jeter are among the nominees at this evening's 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony in London.


Bolt, the 2011 World Athlete of the Year and World 200m champion, is among the nominees for the World Sportsman of the Year, an award he’s already received twice, first following his 2008 double Olympic gold and World record campaign and again after this spectacular double World title and World record achievements the following year.


Both Cheruiyot and Jeter, who are nominees for World Sportswoman of the Year, emerged from last year’s World Championships in Daegu as two of the sport’s biggest stars. Kenyan Cheruiyot added both the World 5000m and 10,000m titles to the World Cross Country crown she won earlier in the year while Jeter, currently history’s second fastest woman ever at 100m, left Daegu with the World 100m title, silver in the 200m, and another gold as a member of the winning U.S. 4x100m Relay.


World Breakthrough of the Year nominees include Yohan Blake, Mo Farah and Oscar Pistorius. Blake won the 100m title in Daegu and later stunned the world with a 19.26 dash in the 200m, the second fastest in history. Farah, the 2010 double European Champion, won the World title at 5000m and took silver in a thrilling 10,000m contest. Pistorius, a double amputee popularly known as the Blade Runner, reached the World Championships semi-finals in the 400m and was a member of South Africa’s 4x400m Relay squad which won the silver medal.


Liu Xiang of China, the 2004 Olympic champion and former World record holder in the 110m Hurdles, is a World Comeback of the Year nominee. Pistorius was also nominated in the World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability category.


Bob Ramsak for the IAAF


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