Yomi Omogbeja (22/11/2007)

African 100m champion Olusoji Fasuba of Nigeria and Ethiopia’s World and Olympic 5000m champion Meseret Defar have been awarded the 9th Abdou Diouf Foundation award for Sport Virtues at the Daniel Sorano National Theatre in Dakar, Senegal.

Ethiopian Meseret Defar won the Excellence Award and the Nigerian Olusoji Adetokundo Fasuba the Prix d'Honneur at the foundation gala ceremony witnessed by highly influential members of the continent's sporting fraternity.

Defar, 24, who is also in the race for the prestigious 'World Athlete of the Year' and 'Performance of the Year' awards at the World Athletics Gala this weekend, was recognised for her outstanding achievements in the past season that saw her win her first World title over the 5000m at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan.

She also smashed her own 5000m outdoor world record in Oslo, Norway and the World indoor 3000m record in Stuttgart, Germany.

Fasuba, 23, set the African 100m record of 9.85 seconds as early as May this year in Doha, Qatar, was fourth in the World Championships final and won the All Africa Games in Algiers in July.

The Abdou Diouf Sport Foundation was founded in 1987 to promote excellence in sport on the continent.

Falilou Kâne, vice president of the Foundation, said: "This foundation has been set up to reward the athletes and we are here to help athletes, for the reward."