Posted: January 2, 2006

Athletics: Track & Field News Selects Top-Ranked Athletes For 2005

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Track & Field News, the "Bible of the Sport," has named their top athletes for 2005.

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia and Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia were named "Athletes of the Year," the highest annual honor bestowed by the magazine.

Bekele broke his own 10,000m world record, won the gold medal at 10,000m at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, and recorded the year's fastest times at 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m. The Ethiopian star received 355 total votes from the magazine's selectors (29 first place), overwhelming second place Saïf Shaheen, the Qatari steeplechaser formerly known as Stephen Cherono. The other middle and long distance runners who ranked in the top-15 of the voting process were 800m/1500m world champion Rachid Ramzi of Bahrain (9th) and miler Bernard Lagat of the United States (14th).

Isinbayeva set five world records in the pole vault in 2005, and with 356 votes (33 first place) was the top female ranker. Tirunesh Dibaba was second with 288 votes (2 first place). Other middle and long distance athletes who made the top-15 were marathoner Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain (7th), steepler Dorcus Inzikuru of Uganda (12th), 5000m runner Meseret Defar of Ethiopia (13th), and miler Maryam Jamal of Bahrain (14th).

The magazine also named their #1-ranked athletes by discipline:

800m:	Wilfried Bungei (Kenya)	Zulia Calatayud (Cuba)
1500m:	Daniel K. Komen (Kenya)	Maryam Jamal (Bahrain)
3000m:	Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)	Meseret Defar (Ethiopia)
5000m:	Bekele	Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia)
10,000m:	Bekele	Dibaba
3K S/C:	Saïf Shaheen (Qatar)	Dorcus Inzikuru (Uganda)
Marathon:	Jaouad Gharib (Morocco)	Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain)

The complete story of the magazine's Athlete of the Year selections is available in the year-end issue of Track & Field News, now on newsstands. A listing their top-10 ranked athletes by discipline are available on the magazine's website at http://www.trackandfieldnews.com. Just click on the photos of Bekele or Isinbayeva.

NOTE: The T&FN ranking information was used the the magazine's permission --Ed.

Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest