Usain Bolt and Sanya Richards Are World Athletes of the 2009

Usain Bolt, the World’s fastest man, and 400 metres runner Sanya Richards have won IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards for 2009.

Bolt first won the award last year after his sprint double in Beijing. He managed to retain the honour for winning the 100m and 200m finals in world record times at the World Championships in Berlin.

“It’s been an amazing year for me. I had to refocus my goals and put in a lot of hard work. I did extremely well and I’m proud of myself.” Usain Bolt.

Sanya Richards also won previously in 2006. She won her first individual major championship gold medal in Berlin this year. She also won at all six Golden League meetings in Europe to claim a share of the $1m jackpot (£605,000) offered to athletes who swept their event.

“I am so excited and overwhelmed. You work so hard to be a world champion. It’s right up there with winning the title in Berlin.” Sanya Richards.

Bolt said that his ambition for 2010 is to remain unbeaten in all his races. He is scheduled to run in 14 competitions next year. He will be racing Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell next year which will be a huge challenge for him. “A lot of people are going to watch out for the showdowns!” Bolt said.

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Recommended Reading • Usain Bolt Smashes the 200m World Record in 19.19 seconds, Berlin 2009 • Usain Bolt Agrees to a Book Deal • Usain Bolt Breaks World Record Again in Berlin – 9.58 seconds • Usain Bolt Wins 200m Final and Breaks Michael Johnson’s Record • Usain Bolt Eyes the 400m World Record

Tags: Athletics, awards, IAAF, running, Sanya Richards, sprinters, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt, World Athlete of the Year

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Athletics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.