{"id":2764,"date":"2023-12-14T11:36:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T19:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2764"},"modified":"2023-12-14T11:36:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T19:36:35","slug":"world-athletics-and-the-athlete-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2764","title":{"rendered":"World Athletics and the Athlete of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s the end of the year and that time we call, awards time. Nothing out of the ordinary, as we’ve been doing this for decades. Choosing the Best of the Year in a myriad of topics, including sports, entertainment, books and other subjects. It’s basically a celebration of the many things that we love. And as much as someone or something, it’s an opportunity to single out the best of the best. It’s a celebration of all that were selected to contend for these awards and to discuss, compare, and celebrate ALL of their accomplishments.<\/p>\n

Which is why I am bamboozled by the recent announcement of the World Athletics choice of the Athlete of the Year. Why? Well, because after going through the process of defining the list of prospects for athlete of the year. Then voting on said list. They fumbled the ball by NOT naming an athlete of the year! Instead they named SIX athletes of the year. Three men and three women. Further dividing them up into, track, field, and “outside of the stadium”! Causing a storm of criticism against World Athletics.<\/p>\n

Now, I’m going to say that I agree with this criticism. You established the award as a SINGULAR award. You named the field of contenders for the award. You held the vote for the award. Then you should have announced the results of this vote, and given out this award! Along with the runners up, and the full results of the voting. Which would basically outline the ratings of the athletes by the voters. This is more than acceptable, because it’s what was expected.<\/p>\n

So, why didn’t World Athletics do this? To be honest, I don’t know. I’m not sure anyone knows. That said, it appears that they simply didn’t have the guts to make the call. And if that’s the case, it’s a sad statement on the organization. But I’ve questioned many of the decisions of this organization. Especially in recent years.<\/p>\n

I will say, that I’m not necessarily against having several athlete of the year awards. Men and Women. Track and Field. Personally I think these are acceptable. The whole, “outside of the stadium” thing. That’s really road running, and that should be a whole separate set of awards in my humble opinion. But the other four as awards I think would be fine. Simply state that from the start and go through the appropriate process of announcing what’s being chosen. Then nominations; reducing the field; voting; announcement; and awards. That is what would be proper and fair to all concerned. What was done was cowardice in the eyes of many. Including myself.<\/p>\n

For the record, as much as I am a huge fan of most of the finalists. This award was an easy one to decide. The Athlete of the Year was Faith Kipyegon. She set multiple world records in several events. Set standards that may only be challenged by her in the near future. Won everything and beat everyone. Including other record setting level athletes. Truly, if there was ever an easy award to give, this was it. No disrespect to the other nominees. This just happened to be a year of true greatness throughout the sport! Which is perhaps what World Athletics should have said. Instead of the cowardly path that they chose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s the end of the year and that time we call, awards time. Nothing out of the ordinary, as we’ve been doing this for decades. Choosing the Best of the Year in a myriad of topics, including sports, entertainment, books and other subjects. It’s basically a celebration of the many things that we love. And as much as someone or something, it’s an opportunity to single out the best of the best. It’s a celebration of all that were selected to contend for these awards and to discuss, compare, and celebrate ALL of their accomplishments. Which is why I am bamboozled by the recent announcement of the World Athletics choice of the Athlete of the Year. Why? Well, because after going through the process of defining the list of prospects for athlete of the year. Then voting on said list. They fumbled the ball by NOT naming an athlete of the year! Instead they named SIX athletes of the year. Three men and three women. Further dividing them up into, track, field, and “outside of the stadium”! Causing a storm of criticism against World Athletics. Now, I’m going to say that I agree with this criticism. You established the award as a SINGULAR award. You named the field of contenders for the award. You held the vote for the award. Then you should have announced the results of this vote, and given out this award! Along with the runners up, and the full results of the voting. Which would basically outline the ratings of the athletes by the voters. This is more than acceptable, because it’s what was expected. So, why didn’t World Athletics do this? To be honest, I don’t know. I’m not sure anyone knows. That said, it appears that they simply didn’t have the guts to make the call. And if that’s the case, it’s a sad statement on the organization. But I’ve questioned many of the decisions of this organization. Especially in recent years. I will say, that I’m not necessarily against having several athlete of the year awards. Men and Women. Track and Field. Personally I think these are acceptable. The whole, “outside of the stadium” thing. That’s really road running, and that should be a whole separate set of awards in my humble opinion. But the other four as awards I think would be fine. Simply state that from the start and go through the appropriate process of announcing what’s being chosen. Then nominations; reducing the field; voting; announcement; and awards. That is what would be proper and fair to all concerned. What was done was cowardice in the eyes of many. Including myself. For the record, as much as I am a huge fan of most of the finalists. This award was an easy one to decide. The Athlete of the Year was Faith Kipyegon. She set multiple world records in several events. Set standards that may only be challenged by her in the near future. Won everything and beat everyone. Including other record setting level athletes. Truly, if there was ever an easy award to give, this was it. No disrespect to the other nominees. This just happened to be a year of true greatness throughout the sport! Which is perhaps what World Athletics should have said. Instead of the cowardly path that they chose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-IA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2944,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2944","url_meta":{"origin":2764,"position":0},"title":"2025 Athletes of the Year","author":"CHill","date":"December 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"As we end the year that was 2025, the \"powers that be\" attempt to tell us who the best athletes of the year were. Unfortunately however, many people believe that they typically fail in their assessments, and I tend to agree. Personally, I'm not fond of trying to take a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Duplantis\"","block_context":{"text":"Duplantis","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=duplantis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/D0794A39-830F-4616-91FE-11987CB04C88-200x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":253,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=253","url_meta":{"origin":2764,"position":1},"title":"Final Look Back at 2009","author":"CHill","date":"December 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"With only a couple of weeks left in 2009, it's time to take a final look back on a very interesting season. Despite being a World Championship season, many events seemed to spur only average performances. But, as happens with regularity in this sport, there were those athletes and events\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"12th IAAF World Athletics Championships - Day Four","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/1\/b\/e\/e\/12th_IAAF_World_367c.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":410,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=410","url_meta":{"origin":2764,"position":2},"title":"Female Athlete of the Year \u2013 Sustained Excellence","author":"CHill","date":"October 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I pick up my end of the year reviews with my choice for this year\u2019s Female Athlete of the Year. The competition for the title was a bit different than it was on the men\u2019s side. While the men had two athletes that had record setting, all time list\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=410#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Aug. 02, 2010 - 06261615 date 01 08 2010 Copyright imago GEPA Pictures Athletics EAA euro 2010 Barcelona Spain 01 Aug 10 Divers Athletics EAA European Championships 2010 High jump the women Picture shows the cheering from Blanka Vlasic CRO Keywords Flag PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxAUTxITA euro Single cheering happiness Vdig xub 2010 horizontal premiumd.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/9480198\/sports-news-august-2010\/sports-news-august-2010.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2442,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2442","url_meta":{"origin":2764,"position":3},"title":"A Question of Whereabouts","author":"CHill","date":"August 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"My previous post focused on Noah Lyles and Michael Norman, two of America\u2019s best young sprint stars. While they have had some nice performances early, they aren\u2019t the only ones that have been lighting it up. Allyson Felix has defeated Shaunae Miller Uibo in a virtual 150; Ryan Crouser has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bromell\"","block_context":{"text":"Bromell","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=bromell"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Track-Section-129x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2955,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2955","url_meta":{"origin":2764,"position":4},"title":"The USATF “Tour”","author":"CHill","date":"February 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Each of the past two seasons we've had a new track meet, or series of meets to look forward to in the US. Two years ago, it was Athlos, which turned out to be a nice competition, that repeated last year, with a promise to expand this year. Last year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/73A418DC-5BE7-4440-AC71-416D8B55DF96-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2584,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2584","url_meta":{"origin":2764,"position":5},"title":"The Best of 202One","author":"CHill","date":"November 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We had to wait two years for 202One. The athletes had to adjust to what amounted to the craziest circumstances ever faced in an Olympic build up. After all was said and done however, and the Olympic season was one of the best ever! ! Hats off to the athletes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bol\"","block_context":{"text":"Bol","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=bol"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/2A6245A3-AA6C-4120-AF41-52A4ACA1A12A-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2764"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2775,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2764\/revisions\/2775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}