MONACO, CMC – Jamaica’s World and Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were named World Athletes of the Year on Saturday.
Bolt, who won the award for the fifth time, and Fraser-Pryce, a first-time winner, received their trophies at this evening’s IAAF World Athletics Gala held at the Salle des Etoiles of the Sporting Club d’Eté.
The awards were hosted by International Athletics Foundation (IAF) Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and IAF & IAAF President Lamine Diack, who presented the trophies to the Male and Female winners.
Both athletes will also receive a prize of US$100,000.
They become the third set of athletes from the same country to claim the World Athlete of the Year title simultaneously, following Carl Lewis and Florence Griffth-Joyner in 1988 and Britons Colin Jackson and Sally Gunnell in 1993.