2006 T&FN ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
Mountain View, California, December 22–
Track & Field News has published its January issue, which includes the 60th edition of its definitive World Rankings and chooses the 2006 Athletes Of The Year.
POWELL NAMED TOP MAN
The top men’s honors went to Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, who twice tied his own World Record in the 100 meters.
A 35-member panel of international experts voted him as AOY with a score just three points shy of perfection. The 23-year-old speedster collected 32 of the votes for No. 1 as he achieved a 99.1% score on the 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 voting system.
Overall, 15 different men received votes, with the other two No. 1s going to Virgilius Alekna (2) and Xiang Liu (1). The top 10 vote-getters, with their totals:
- Asafa Powell (Jamaica–100m) 347
- Jeremy Wariner (US–400m) 286
- Virgilijus Alekna (Lithuania–discus) 251
- Xiang Liu (China–110m hurdles) 248
- Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia–distances) 163
- Irving Saladino (Panama–long jump) 148
- Saïf Shaheen (Qatar–steeplechase) 141
- Tyson Gay (US–sprints) 122
- Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway–javelin) 118
- Koji Murofushi (Japan–hammer) 52
WOMEN’S HONOR TO RICHARDS
In a season capped by an American Record in the 400 meters, Sanya Richards was almost perfect in the voting
The 21-year-old Texas alum earned 33 of the 36 votes for No. 1, the other three going to Meseret Defar (2) and Yelena Isinbayeva (1).
Overall, 16 women received votes. The top 10 vote-getters, with their totals:
- Sanya Richards (US–200m/400m) 356
- Meseret Defar (Ethiopia–distances) 241
- Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia–pole vault) 230
- Sherone Simpson (Jamaica–100m/200m) 215
- Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia–distances) 192
- Tatyana Lebedeva (Russia–horizontal jumps) 151
- Tatyana Lysenko (Russia–hammer) 147
- Carolina Klüft (Sweden–heptathlon) 110
- Michelle Perry (US–100m hurdles) 88
- Franka Dietzsch (Germany–discus) 81