2008 T&FN Women’s Athlete Of The Year: Tirunesh Dibaba

’08 T&FN Women’s Athlete Of The Year: Tirunesh Dibaba

Mountain View, California, December 23—For the second year in a row and Ethiopian distance runner has been named Women’s Athlete Of The Year by Track & Field News.

In ’07 it was Meseret Defar; this time it was her arch-rival Tirunesh Dibaba, who broke the World Record in the 5000, then went on to score double golds in both the 5 and 10 at the Olympics.

Dibaba received 26 of the 37 votes for No. 1. In a close battle for the runner-up position, teenage sensation Pamela Jelimo actually had more No. 1s than vault WR setter Yelena Isinbayeva, 6–5, but the Russian nonetheless ended up with a 6-point margin.

The 16 athletes who received votes (on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring system) for 2008, and their totals:

1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia—distances) 356

2. Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia—pole vault) 323

3. Pamela Jelimo (Kenya—800 meters) 317

4. Barbora Špotáková (Czech Republic—javelin) 227

5. Gulnara Galkina (Russia—steeplechase) 163

6. Melaine Walker (Jamaica—400 hurdles) 159

7. Blanka Vlašić (Croatia—high jump) 124

8. Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica—sprints) 108

9. Valerie Vili (New Zealand—shot) 102

10. Oksana Menkova (Belarus—hammer) 56

11. Olga Kaniskina (Russia—walk) 44

12. Shelly-Ann Fraser (Jamaica—sprints) 24

13. Sanya Richards (USA—long sprints) 15

14. Irina Mikitenko (Germany—marathon) 13

15. Tatyana Lebedeva (Russia—horizontal jumps) 3

16. Maryam Jamal (Bahrain—middle distances) 1