Sprint superstar Usain Bolt has won the IAAF male Athlete of the Year for an unprecedented sixth time, wihle Almaz Ayana has taken the female title
Jamaican Usain Bolt poses with male world athlete award in Monte Carlo on Friday. Pic/AFP
Jamaican Usain Bolt poses with male world athlete award in Monte Carlo on Friday. Pic/AFP
Monte Carlo: Sprint superstar Usain Bolt has won the IAAF male Athlete of the Year for an unprecedented sixth time, wihle Almaz Ayana has taken the female title.
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Bolt, who bagged three golds for the third Olympic Games in a row in Rio earlier this year, claimed the track and field's world governing body's year-ending prize here on Friday ahead of Britain's distance runner Mo Farah and South African Wayde van Niekerk, reports Xinhua. T
he Jamaican nine-time Olympic champion of men's 100 meters, 200m and 4X100m relay was previously named Athlete of the Year in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
"When you get to be athlete of the year, it means that all the hard work has paid off. So, if I can win it for a sixth year, it means as much as the first one," said Bolt.
"One of the main reasons I'm continuing for another year is because of the fans; they don't want me to retire. I have to give thanks to them," the 30-year-old added. Ethiopia's Ayana, who broke a 23-year-old record in the women's 10,000m at the Rio Olympics, won the prize over Bolt's countrywoman Elain Thompson, the 100 and 200m golds winner in Rio, and Poland's Olympic hammer champion and world record holder Anita Wlodarczyk.
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