Great Ethiopian Run (GER) - Ethiopians in the running for the IAAF gong

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Ethiopians in the running for the IAAF gong

23 October 2009- Ethiopian athletes are expected to be in the running for the IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards as the world governing body this week launched its process to select the top male and female athletes of the 2009 athletics season.

In a new move, the IAAF has shelved the public vote that was one of the criteria used to select the top three male and female nominees for the best male and female athlete of the year. Instead, this process will now be exclusively conducted by the members of the IAAF athletics family including IAAF & IAF Council Members, Member Federations, IAAF Committee & Commission Members, Meeting Directors, IAAF Ambassadors, Athletes’ Representatives, Selected International Press, and IAAF Staff Members.

As in previous years, Ethiopian athletes are again expect to be part of the exclusive club of top male and female athletes with world 5000m and 10000m champion Kenenisa Bekele expected to be among the front runners for the men's prize along with Jamaican sprinting sensation Usain Bolt.

Despite a solitary bronze from two events at the world championships in Berlin, Meseret Defar should also feature among the contenders for the women's prize because of her world 5000m indoor record and world 2-mile indoor best earlier in the season. IAAF golden league jackpot contenders Sanya Richards and Yelena Isinbayeva are expected to be the favorites.

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