BOLT did NOT deserve to win IAAF-AOY

publicity, hommie. whether you like him or not, it puts dollars into the sport.

Well, to be fair Bolt said he was surprised to win this year (or more surprised than he had been in past years, at least).

Also, keep in mind that he won the 200m, ran the best time of the year in the 100m, and had a string of really solid performances.

Of course, you could say the same for Blake with the 100 and 200 switched, and of course 19.26 is way better than 9.77. All I'm saying is that I think both Bolt and Blake had a somewhat legitimate claim to win, I probably would have gone with Blake too, but it's not like it's an outrage.

I understand why IAAF decided to hand him the award i.e it is about $$$$$ .However shouldnt they be trying to encourage other upcoming outstanding athletes to be superstars? I just do not believe he won it purely on votes i think the thing was fixed.

I surely agree with that. To be sincere, Blake deserved to lead, then Rudisha and Bolt next. Bolt didn't deserve!!!! On the women's side, it is more biased than on the men's. Vivian Cheruiyot deserved it for heavens sake!!! Starting Jan this year, she won the 8Km world XC championship, all her diamond races, and finaly doubled 5,000M and 10,000M in The World track and field in Daegu, winning Gold in both!! I think it is veryyyyyy (oR RACIAL INCLINED IF YOU LIKE)biased on the women's side than on the men's!!! Vivian and Blake were the real athletes of 2011!!! If this is the case in the coming years, this AOY award should be scraped for it doesn't make any sense!!!!

mileage man wrote:

Well, to be fair Bolt said he was surprised to win this year (or more surprised than he had been in past years, at least).

Also, keep in mind that he won the 200m, ran the best time of the year in the 100m, and had a string of really solid performances.

Of course, you could say the same for Blake with the 100 and 200 switched, and of course 19.26 is way better than 9.77. All I'm saying is that I think both Bolt and Blake had a somewhat legitimate claim to win, I probably would have gone with Blake too, but it's not like it's an outrage.

I agree that Bolt should have gotten it. Lets compare Bolt and Blake

Bolt/Blake

100m

World leading/ World Champ because Bolt false started

200m

4th fastest ever and World Champ/ 2nd fastest ever and world leading

4x100m

4th leg of world record and world championships team/ same

Bolt also tackled the Diamond League a lot this season. He was more impressive this year than Blake, not by very much though.

2nd chances wrote:

Yohan Blake had a better season performance-wise than Bolt.I just wonder whether this vote was fixed by IAAF.Even more surprsing is the fact that Bolt himself can stand there and actually believe that he deserves the award.I just wonder how the selection is done.

The IAAF probably gained awareness sometime in between the World Championships and now that it was Blake who false-started and Bolt who reacted.

After DQing the wrong runner, they probably couldn't revamp the entire medal situation, but they're also probably discounting Blake's victory in Daegu as a factor in deciding whether he would win or not.

I'm surprised there aren't more people that think rudisha should've won it. I think blake is only being considered for his absurdly fast 200m (I doubt he would've beaten bolt in 100, so that hardly counts). Rudisha had a lot more amazing performances than either blake or bolt with tons of consistency and incredible domination against much much better competition than what either bolt or blake faced. Rudisha is clearly the most deserving.

Also, while clearly inferior to Rudisha, Farah ought to be head and shoulders above bolt/blake.

I definitely agree that Cheruiyot should've been the AOY- she did everything that Dibaba did in 2008 (when the latter was AOY) and she still didn't get it- the XC champs, the double at the track champs, won all her diamond league races, ran 14:20 for 5000m. Sally Pearson had a great season, I'll give her that, but Cheruiyot deserved it more.

On the men's side I contest that Rudisha should've been the winner. He was a much more impressive winner at the world champs, he lost only one race in a season in which he had a foot injury, he ran 1:41.33 - far more superior to Bolt's 9.77 or 19.4 when juxtaposed with their respective records. I was surprised Mo Farah wasn't one of the candidates.

It's too bad the IAAF named its three candidates before the New York City Marathon was run. Granted, comparing sprinters or an 800 meter runner with marathoners is an apples and oranges comparison, but nevertheless Geoffrey Mutai had a year to be proud of and could make a decent claim for being AOY.

He had a Boston Marathon victory (a course record by 2:50!...and 4:12 (!) faster than the other R.K. Cheruiyot's CR that lasted until 2010) in a "World Best" (albeit heavily wind-aided) performance, plus a New York victory (a course record by 2:37!) to become only the fifth man in history to accomplish the Boston/New York double. And to do it by trouncing both course records...

He also demolished the field at the Kenyan National Cross Country Championships (by 44 seconds).

He did finish 5th at the World Cross, though he helped his team win the gold (which is comparable to helping a team win the 4 x 100 gold at the World Track Championships).

He also finished 4th in the 10,000 meters at the Kenyan National track & field championships in 27:38.9 (5,450 feet altitude)

But he also had a fast win at the Boston road 10K in June - 27:19. And a 1/2 marathon victory in Bogota, Colombia 1:02:20 (at 8,612 feet of altitude). Plus he won one of the oldest road races in Europe, the Giro di Castelbuono.

So, good work on the track, fine work in cross country, successful on the road, and awesome in the marathon. He should at least have been considered for one of the three finalists' spots...

How about because everybody knows Blake is on drugs because no one just runs a 19.26 out of nowhere. That is so incredibly fast that it is really 99% drug-aided.

I agree. Galen Rupp had a much better groundbreaking breakthrough performance.

He shouda gotten it

To me, no way Bolt or Blake should win the award.

They both had near perfect seasons, they both led the world in one event and won Gold in the other event, yet they run the same events.

This tells you that they avoided each other all year.

Neither ran against the best so neither should be considered the best overall in the world of athletics.

Rudisha took everyone on. He beat everyone.

He had a late season loss to someone he beat multiple times.

He ran close to his WR and had the three fastest times.

His only fault was they he broke the WR last year instead of this year. He "only" ran the 5th fastest time in history this year, only Kipketer and himself had run faster.

I don't mind the idea of giving G Mutai the award.

But with only two marathons and everyone running in different races it's hard to show enough domination to put him above Rudisha.

2nd chances wrote:

Yohan Blake had a better season performance-wise than Bolt.I just wonder whether this vote was fixed by IAAF.Even more surprsing is the fact that Bolt himself can stand there and actually believe that he deserves the award.I just wonder how the selection is done.

JAAA has selected Yohan Blake as its athlete of the year. So much for the IAAF. What an embarrassment!

BALCO also picked Yohan Blake as athlete of the year. A warm congratulations to him!