World Athletics Gala 2002 (© IAF)
The International Athletic Foundation (IAF) Council’s choice of the Male and Female Athlete of the Year will be announced live on stage at the World Athletics Gala, at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo on Sunday 17th November.
Over the coming weeks, we will examine the season credentials of all 20 athletes (10 men & 10 women) who last week were selected by the IAF’s International Nominations Panel of Athletics Experts, as the top performers of 2002.
We begin now, in alphabetical order with the first four names.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 2002 - MALE
Jonathan Edwards (GBR) Triple Jump (36y)
The World and Olympic champion and the World record holder, now the ‘old man’ of the hop, step and jump, blasted his way to the Commonwealth Games title with a world-leading 17.86m, and also won at the IAAF World Cup in Madrid. However, against the vanguard of the younger generation Christian Olsson, he lost, taking bronze at the European Championships and silver at the IAAF Grand Prix Final, but overall beat the Swede 5-4 in their nine clashes throughout the season.
Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 1500m/1 Mile (28y)
The Moroccan remains master of all he surveys. Unbeaten in 11 races at 1500m or 1 Mile, including all IAAF Golden League races and the IAAF Grand Prix Final, where he was surprisingly overtaken in the Overall Standings because of Tim Montgomery’s surprise 100m World record. Had world-leading times at both 1500m (3:26.89) and 1 Mile (3:48.48), and when his nearest challenger, Bernard Lagat deigned to come close at Brussels, he toyed with the Kenyan, and then burnt him off easily in the final sprint.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 2002 - FEMALE
Berhane Adere (ETH ) 3000m/5000m (29y)
One of the few Ethiopian runners to be at the top of her game in an otherwise lack lustre summer on the track for the runners of this East African distance running super power. Adere first grabbed Szabo’s World indoor record at 3000m, then took to the roads to win the IAAF World Half Marathon title, before scoring track wins at the African Championships 5000m, IAAF World Cup 3000m, and three IAAF Golden League races.
Süreyya Ayhan (TUR) 1500m (24y)
A real Turkish delight, or should that be surprise, but then perhaps we were all guilty of pre-season blindness about the potential of the 2001 World Student Games Champion. Ayhan completed spectacular front-run, and sometimes even “gun to tape’’, victories in all four of her races at 1500m, notching up European Championships and IAAF World Cup titles. In Brussels, she clocked the world-leading time for 2002 of 3:57.75.
IAAF
