Juan Carlos Zabala and Noemi Simonetto voted Argentinean Athletes of the Century
Juan Carlos Zabala (Olympic gold medallist for the marathon in the 1932 Games in Los Angeles) and Noemi Simonetto (Olympic silver medallist in the long jump at the 1948 Games in London) have been selected as Argentina's Athletes of the Century after a poll carried out on behalf of Argentina's Confederation of Athletics.
The poll was carried out between April and October 1999 with the support of 50 experts, including former-athletes, coaches, judges, officials and journalists throughout the country. These experts also represent many generations of athletic-lovers and were asked to take the following into account when making their choices: international results, the influence the selected athletes had on the development of Argentinean athletics, natural talent, the longevity of their best marks, and finally their personal qualities and conduct.
Each person was allowed to vote for 10 individuals - men and women - and the points ranged from 10 for the first choice to 1 for the 10th:
Men
1 Juan Carlos Zabala, 433 points
2 Delfo Cabrera, 315 points
3 Osvaldo Suárez, 269 points
4 Gerardo Bonnhoff, 243 points
5 Reinaldo Gorno, 216 points
6 Juan Carlos Dyrzka, 194 points
7 Luis Brunetto, 189 points
8 Alberto Triulzi, 183 points
9 Antonio Silio, 154 points
10 Enrique Kistenmacher, 114 points
Women
1 Noemí Simonetto, 439 points
2 Solange Witteveen, 330 points
3 Alejandra García, 320 points
4 Beatriz Allocco, 287 points
5 Ingerborg Pfuller, 262 points
6 Andrea Avila, 184 points
7 Ingerborg Mello, 169 points
8 Beatriz Capotosto, 135 points
9 Isabel Avellán, 102 points
10 Ana María Comaschi, 79 points
In the men's contest, Zabala not only scored the most points, but was the man on most lists. Only one of the 50 experts did not have him on their list.
