Monte-Carlo – Following the poll of the IAAF Family and the votes of the Internet fans, the IAAF has selected the three male and the three female finalists who are still in the running to become the 2008 World Athlete of the Year.

Finalists are: (in alphabetical order)

Men
Kenenisa Bekele  ETH
Usain Bolt   JAM 
Dayron Robles  CUB

Women
Tirunesh Dibaba  ETH
Yelena Isinbayeva  RUS
Pamela Jelimo  KEN

The other athletes who had been shortlisted for the Athlete of the Year Award were in order of number of votes received (4th to 10th).

Men
Irving Saladino  PAN
Haile Gebrselassie  ETH
Samuel Wanjiru  KEN
Andreas Thorkildsen  NOR
Bryan Clay   USA
LaShawn Merritt  USA
Andrey Silnov   RUS
 
Women
Veronica Campbell-Brown JAM
Melaine Walker  JAM
Valerie Vili   NZL
Barbora Spotakova  CZE
Blanka Vlasic   CRO
Gulnara Galkina-Samitova RUS
Françoise Mbango  CMR

The winners of the 2008 World Athlete of the Year Awards will be announced live, on stage, during the 2008 World Athletics Gala, which will take place in Monaco, on 23 November 2008.

The IAAF Family and Public votes opened on Monday 13 October, following the conclusion of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, and closed on Sunday 9 November at midnight CET.

Weighed at 70% the IAAF Family vote consisted in a list of 1512 recipients including IAAF & IAF Council Members, IAAF Member Federations, IAAF Committee & Commission Members, IAAF Meeting Directors, IAAF Ambassadors, Leading Athletes, Athletes’ Representatives, IAAF Staff Members and selected members of the International Press.

As part of the Online Public Vote which weighed at 30% of the overall standings, the IAAF received a total of 493,353 votes (250,361 for the men and 242,992 for the women).