T&FN 2011 Women's AOY: Vivian Cheruiyot

2011 WOMEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Double Pushes Vivian Cheruiyot To The Top

Kenya scored double wins in our AOY voting, and the second half came on double World Champs golds by Vivian Cheruiyot, the 5000/10,000 winner in Daegu.

In becoming the first Kenyan woman ever to win (and only the fifth from her nation ever to make the top 10), Cheruiyot was a convincing No. 1, earning 21 of the 33 first-place ballots cast by our 33-member international panel.

Cheruiyot had an undefeated season: runner-up Sally Pearson was within three hurdles of doing the same and Valerie Adams was also without a blemish. Pearson (8) and Adams (4) claimed the other votes for No. 1.

The top 10 athletes, with their scores (for a full charting of all the scores—plus our intergalactically-famous World Rankings—check out the February edition of Track & Field News, available next week):

1. Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya—5000/10,000)............ 317

2. Sally Pearson (Australia—100-m hurdles).......... 292

3. Valerie Adams (New Zealand—shot).................. 252

4. Carmelita Jeter (USA—100/200 meters)............ 217

5. Anna Chicherova (Russia—high jump).............. 144

6. Betty Heidler (Germany—hammer).................... 110

7. Lashinda Demus (USA—400 hurdles)............... 108

8. Tatyana Chernova (Russia—heptathlon)............. 66

9. Mariya Savinova (Russia—800 meters).............. 65

10. Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica—100/200) 56

Distribution of the 1st-place votes: Cheruiyot 21, Pearson 8, Adams 4.

Click here to see this year’s Men’s AOY results.