Sally Pearson and Usain Bolt win the IAAF athlete of the year award at the IAAF World Gala in Monte-Carlo.
Jamaican Usain Bolt and Australian Sally Pearson were named Athletes of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The last male athlete to win four gold medals in track and field at the Olympics was Carl Lewis at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Usain has won a record-tying third Athlete of the Year award. Hurdles world champion Sally Pearson has been elected Athlete of the Year, the first Australian to be awarded the honour in the poll conducted by the world governing body IAAF. Pearson had an emphatic run to the 100m hurdles world title in Korea, winning the final in the fourth best time in the discipline, 12.28 seconds. Pearson, like Bolt, was a World Youth champion in 2003. Both winners get cheques for $US100,000.
