IAAF Athlete of the year finalists

Myles Splitz

Men

Women

Agree, disagree. Other notable mentions?

Chivito550

In the men's the award should go to either Taylor or Eaton. but guarantee it will be Bolt again, for the publicity, a PR stunt. Hard to take the award seriously. Bolt hardly raced all year, and won the 100m because his main challenger absolutely bottled it in the last 30m. Overall it wasn't one of Bolt's more notable years, and without the hype of "good v evil", it wouldn't have been an all that special year from him. He has set a high standard from his past exploits to be fair. Eaton achieved a WR, and Taylor went second in history. They stepped it up to a new level while Bolt didn't.

I'd probably go with Dibaba in the women's. The only slip up was her 5000m in Beijing.

Wild Garlic

Notable mention : Julius Yego.

rom

With what is going on with the IAAF its hard to have much mass in these awards.

walshb

Bolt for me. To show such character when many had him written off cements it for me. 3 golds at the worlds to take his tally to 10 or 11 golds in total. He's the man. Performs when on the big stage time after time.

Chivito550

walshb wrote: »

Bolt for me. To show such character when many had him written off cements it for me. 3 golds at the worlds to take his tally to 10 or 11 golds in total. He's the man. Performs when on the big stage time after time.

Thought you said decathletes are the ultimate athletes. Yet somebody who achieves a WR in this discipline is not enough for you to claim the award. Nice contradiction from you.

KielyUnusual

Hard to argue with it too much. My knowledge on the field sports is limited so can't disagree or disagree with the nomination of Anita Wlodarczyk. I seem to remember her throwing a hammer over a river and it being a world record. That was pretty cool I guess :cool:

I'd go with Eaton for the mens and Dibaba for the women. Whatever about Dibaba in the 5000m, where she was beaten in a phenomenal performance by Ayana, that WR in the 1500m was something else. Thought that WR was pretty much untouchable but she hammered it off not ideal pacing from the pacer.

Honourable mention would go to Kiprop. Another phenomenal season where he was very close to El Guerrouj's record in the 1500m and looked pretty unbeatable over the distance even when running what would have been a tactically disastrous race for anyone else in the World Championship final.

Mo, as well had another great year and looks unbeatable. That Half Marathon/1500m combo in the space of a few months is a phenomenal range to have. 59 mins/3.28. Crazy stuff

walshb

Chivito550 wrote: »

Thought you said decathletes are the ultimate athletes. Yet somebody who achieves a WR in this discipline is not enough for you to claim the award. Nice contradiction from you.

You're just anti Bolt, as well as smarting because you had him not even entering the worlds this year.

Decathletes are the greatest athletes on earth. That point will never change.

Pherekydes

walshb wrote: »

Decathletes are the greatest athletes on earth. That point will never change.

And one of them put up the greatest ever performance in the WC.

He's the clear winner for me.

Honourable mention for Pichardo, Farah, Yego.

Women, I suppose Dibaba.

walshb

Pherekydes wrote: »

And one of them put up the greatest ever performance in the WC.

He's the clear winner for me.

Honourable mention for Pichardo, Farah, Yego.

Women, I suppose Dibaba.

Bolt's 9.58 in 2009 or Powell's 29 + feet jump in 1991 was every bit as great as Eaton's WR at a WCs. Unless you meant greatest decathlete performance in WC history.

I'd put Eaton 2nd or 3rd for this year.

Chivito550

walshb wrote: »

Bolt's 9.58 in 2009 or Powell's 29 + feet jump in 1991 was every bit as great as Eaton's WR at a WCs. Unless you meant greatest decathlete performance in WC history.

I'd put Eaton 2nd or 3rd for this year.

Hang on. How can you say Decathletes are the greatest athletes on earth, and yet rank the greatest ever decathlon performance below a sprint performance 2 tenths off his best. That makes zero sense.

walshb

Chivito550 wrote: »

Hang on. How can you say Decathletes are the greatest athletes on earth, and yet rank the greatest ever decathlon performance below a sprint performance 2 tenths off his best. That makes zero sense.

Decathletes are the greatest athletes on earth. That doesn't mean I will always put one of their great performances ahead of a non decathlete's great performance. It has nothing to do with sense. They are not necessarily directly linked.

I rate Ali as the greatest sportsman ever. I'd still back Lennox Lewis to beat him.

Anyway, it's my choice. Not yours. You have yours, and that's great.

When a decathlete earns my vote he will certainly get it.

And, Bolt got my vote for more than just his 100 m race win.

Pherekydes

walshb wrote: »

Bolt's 9.58 in 2009 or Powell's 29 + feet jump in 1991 was every bit as great as Eaton's WR at a WCs. Unless you meant greatest decathlete performance in WC history.

I'd put Eaton 2nd or 3rd for this year.

I was talking about the decathlon and I was talking about this year.

You're hardly going to give AOY to Bolt based on what he did in '09.

walshb

Pherekydes wrote: »

I was talking about the decathlon and I was talking about this year.

You're hardly going to give AOY to Bolt based on what he did in '09.

I wasn't completely sure what exactly you meant. I do now.

Bolt 1, Farrah 2 and Eaton 3 for 2015. Very close.

pconn062

Chivito550 wrote: »

In the men's the award should go to either Taylor or Eaton. but guarantee it will be Bolt again, for the publicity, a PR stunt. Hard to take the award seriously. Bolt hardly raced all year, and won the 100m because his main challenger absolutely bottled it in the last 30m. Overall it wasn't one of Bolt's more notable years, and without the hype of "good v evil", it wouldn't have been an all that special year from him. He has set a high standard from his past exploits to be fair. Eaton achieved a WR, and Taylor went second in history. They stepped it up to a new level while Bolt didn't.

I'd probably go with Dibaba in the women's. The only slip up was her 5000m in Beijing.

+1 to all this. Bolt doesn't deserve it but will probably win anyway, because the man on the street even knows who Bolt is. Bit of a joke but hey, it's the IAAF.

To me I feel Schippers deserves the women's award. She broke the African/Caribbean dominance of the sprints, an outstanding achievement.

28064212

To be fair, I don't think it would be "a joke" or a "stunt" to give it to Bolt, and it's unnecessarily adversarial to describe it as such. His performance at the WC was incredible, and it gave a huge boost to the sport at a time that it desperately needed it. It's easy to say "Oh Gatlin bottled it", but, on that basis, all races should just be time-trials. The psychology of racing is an important part of it, and the fact that Bolt beat the favourite Gatlin in the 100m (after a poor semi-final), and followed it up with a dominant performance in the 200m should not be dismissed. While I would put Eaton ahead from a purely objective, athletic point of view, there's very little in it

average_runner

Eaton for me in the mens. Amazing performance.

In the women its Dibaba. Had a good solid year, raced alot and some great performances.

I like Bolt but can't give him the award for turning up at one event. To win this award you need to be consistent in my opinion.

KielyUnusual

So Ashton and Genzebe get the nod in the end

http://www.iaaf.org/news/press-release/eaton-dibaba-2015-world-athletes

Some words of gratitude from the man himself

Chivito550

KielyUnusual wrote: »

So Ashton and Genzebe get the nod in the end

http://www.iaaf.org/news/press-release/eaton-dibaba-2015-world-athletes

Some words of gratitude from the man himself

Class words from a class man who masters a wonderful discipline. Decathletes are humble people in my experience.

Pherekydes

Chivito550 wrote: »

Class words from a class man who masters a wonderful discipline. Decathletes are humble people in my experience.

Hehe, Daley Thompson... :pac: