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World Athlete of the Year missing in action

Published:Sunday | December 17, 2023 | 12:11 AMHubert Lawrence - Gleaner Writer
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Faith Kipyegon, of Kenya, crosses the finish line to win the Women 5000 metres, setting a new world record during the Meeting de Paris Diamond League athletics meet in Paris on Friday, June 9, 2023.
AP
Faith Kipyegon, of Kenya, crosses the finish line to win the Women 5000 metres, setting a new world record during the Meeting de Paris Diamond League athletics meet in Paris on Friday, June 9, 2023.
File Photos United States’ Ryan Crouser throws during the 2023 World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary on August 19.
Gladstone Taylor
File Photos United States’ Ryan Crouser throws during the 2023 World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary on August 19.
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IN TIME, the change from selecting just one Athlete of the Year may prove wise.

As the post-Bolt search for heroes continues, the global governing body for the sport has clearly decided to spread the load from one person carrying the sport’s popularity on his back. However, we still don’t know who the 2023 World Athlete of the Year is.

World Athletics has used the award to answer this question since 1988 but, this time, sectional awards have replaced the naming of one man and one woman each as Athlete of the Year. The change not only breaks tradition, but it implies that all the awardees had equally good seasons.

Take Faith Kipyegon. No other woman left Budapest, host city of the 19th World Championships, with as many as two individual gold medals. In addition to her unprecedented 1500/5000 double there, the little Kenyan was undefeated on the track, and she set world records of 3 minutes, 49.11 seconds for the 1500, 4 minutes, 07.61 seconds for the mile and 14 minutes, 05.20 seconds for the 5000. The change has robbed her since no other woman had such a successful 2023.

The men’s situation is almost as clear as there are only two athletes who won in Budapest and who set world records in events contested at the World Championships and the Olympics: US shot putter Ryan Crouser and Mondo Duplantis, the Swedish pole vaulter. For the record, Duplantis cleared 6.23 metres while Crouser launched his shot 23.56 metres.

With World Athletics not naming overall winners, we had to wait until publications like Track and Field News and Athletics Weekly released their Athlete of the Year selections.

Fortunately, the wait wasn’t too long. Trackandfieldnews.com named Crouser its male Athlete of the Year on December 15. Kipyegon was presented as the female Athlete of the Year the following day.

Perhaps World Athletics will give some thought to combining the selection of overall winners with the provision of sectional prizes. After all, at the Grammys, the music industry selects the best per genre and speciality and also picks an overall Song of the Year. The Oscars, the awards ceremony for motion pictures, does the same.

The World Athletics Awards could be like that. The overall winners would get their just reward for excellent seasons, while brilliance on the track, in the field and on the road would also be recognised. Hopefully, this change will be forthcoming.

Usain Bolt left a vacuum when he retired in 2017. His speed and charm entranced fans the world over, and the move to multiple sectional athletes of the year can be seen as a move to fill the gap. However, like the Grammys and the Oscars, it is still useful to pinpoint the very best individual achiever. With this in mind, I look forward to an upgraded Athlete of Year Awards event in 2024, one with sectional prizes and the naming of overall winners.

Hubert Lawrence has made notes at trackside since 1980.