Monte Carlo: Sprint king Usain Bolt, The Gleaner's Man of the Year, is expected to walk away with his second male Athlete of the Year award at tonight's IAAF World Athletics Gala in Monaco.
Bolt had two spectacular world-record times of 9.58 (100m) and 19.19 (200m) in winning two individual gold medals at the Berlin World Championships in Athletics last August. He also helped Jamaica to win the men's 4x100m title and topped off the year with the 200m crown at the World Athletics final. Last year, he captured the IAAF title after world-record runs in the same events at the Beijing Olympics.
In addition to his exploits in Berlin, Bolt registered five times under 9.90 seconds and three under 19.60 while remaining undefeated in finals at 100m and 200m in 2009. Asafa Powell is the only other Jamaican male to have won this award.
Bolt, who took the Rising Star award in 2004, said: "I am delighted to be back in Monaco for the IAAF gala.
American Tyson Gay, who won the 100m silver medal in Berlin and has become the second fastest 100m runner of all time at 9.69, an American record, is also nominated.
Australian Steve Hooker, world pole vault champion; Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, the first man ever to win a 5,000m/10,000m double at the World Championships; and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, the Berlin World Championships javelin throw gold medal winner, are the others nominated for the award.
female nominees
On the female side, Jamaican-born American Sanya Richards, who won her first world individual title, the 400m in Berlin and shared the Golden League jackpot, is nominated in a strong field of five women.
Russian pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, Valerie Vili of New Zealand, who took the shot put gold in Berlin and has nine of the 10 best throws in 2009, and Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland, who threw the hammer 77.96m to win in Berlin, along with Croatian Blanka Vlasic, the world high jump champion, are the other women.