(04/09/2005)

The prestigious annual World Athletics Gala will be hosted at the Hotel Fairmont in Monte-Carlo by the International Athletic Foundation (IAF) Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and IAF & IAAF President Lamine Diack on Saturday September 10, after the conclusion of competition at the 3rd IAAF World Athletics Final in the Stade Louis II.

The evening highlight will, once again, be the annual awards ceremony for the Male and Female World Athletes of the Year, with the winners being announced live on stage.

This is your chance to vote for your top African athletes in the list of the top 15 athletes (both men and women) in the IAAF Overall World Rankings for this year.

By login on to the http://www.iaaf.org, you will be able to pick your choice of Male and Female Athlete of the Year from the list.

This vote will also open on Monday 5 September at 07:00 GMT and close at 07:00 GMT on Thursday 8 September, 2005.

When the vote has closed, a shortlist of 5 will then be presented to the International Athletic Foundation Special Jury, who will then make a final selection of Athlete of the Year after taking consideration of results achieved at the World Athletics Final in Monaco (9-10 September).

There are also honours for the 2005 outstanding Rising Stars, Performances of the Year, Distinguished Career, Lifetime Achievement and Fair Play awards.

The vote will be open for just three days, so start voting now!

African Athletes in Contention

Kenenisa Bekele - 23, Male (Ethiopia)

• Achieved his fourth successive World Cross country double in St Etienne in March, two months after tragically losing his fiancée while on a training run in January.

• Retained his World 10,000m title in Helsinki to add to the Olympic title of last year.

• Improved his own World 10,000m record by nearly three seconds to 26:17.53 at the 29th Van Damme Memorial - IAAF/TDK Golden League meeting in Brussels last month.

Tirunesh Dibaba - 19, Female (Ethiopia)

• Broke the world indoor 5000m record at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in January. The 19-year-old World 5,000m champion and world junior record holder, ran an astonishing 14:32.93 to wipe off countrywoman Berhane Adere's 14:39.29 set in 2004.

• Won an historic short and long-course double at the World Cross Country Championships in St-Galmier, France in March.

• Made history by becoming the first woman ever to win the World championships 5000m/10,000m double in Helsinki.

Dorcus Inzikuru - 22, Female (Uganda)

• Became the first woman ever to win the Women's 3000m Steeplechase, which was also held for the first time ever at a World level Championships.

• Won the first World championships gold medal ever for Uganda and only the second medal of any kind for the central African country.

Jaouad Gharib - Male (Morocco)

• Becoming the first man since Abel Anton in 1999 to successfully defend a Marathon World title with his superb run in Helsinki.

To vote for any of these athletes now, click here.

Past IAF Athletes of the Year

1988 Carl Lewis (USA)               Florence Griffith-Joyner (USA)
1989 Roger Kingdom (USA)       Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)
1990 Steve Backley (GBR)         Merlene Ottey (JAM)
1991 Carl Lewis (USA)               Katrin Krabbe (GER)
1992 Kevin Young (USA)            Heike Henkel (GER)
1993 Colin Jackson (GBR)          Sally Gunnell (GBR)
1994 Noureddine Morceli (ALG)   Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)
1995 Jonathan Edwards (GBR)    Gwen Torrence (USA)
1996 Michael Johnson (USA)       Svetlana Masterkova (RUS)
1997 Wilson Kipketer (DEN)         Marion Jones (USA)
1998 Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)    Marion Jones (USA)
1999 Michael Johnson (USA)       Gabriela Szabo (ROM)
2000 Jan Zelezny (CZE)               Marion Jones (USA)
2001 Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR)   Stacy Dragila (USA)
2002 Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR)   Paula Radcliffe (GBR)
2003 Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR)   Hestrie Cloete (RSA)
2004 Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)       Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)
2005 ? ?????????????????????????????????????????????