AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award

German Uta Pippig is a two-time recipient.

The AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award is a long-distance running prize which is given annually by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) to the top male and female athletes of the year.[1][2]

Established in 1992, runners receive nominations from the organisers of AIMS member races (over 300 in number) and the man and woman with the most nominations are each given the AIMS Golden Shoe.[3] The athletic footwear company ASICS is a long-time sponsor of the award.[4][5] There is no designated period in the year for when the awards are given out, but instead runners are given the Golden Shoe in a ceremony preceding their participation in one of the AIMS races.[3]

Those to have received the award include marathon world record holders Haile Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe, who have each been given the honour on three separate occasions. Kenyan Tegla Loroupe has the most wins to her name; she won her first award in 1995 and took the honour for three consecutive years from 1997 to 1999. Others to have been nominated as AIMS World Athlete of the Year are Lornah Kiplagat, Uta Pippig, Khalid Khannouchi and Catherine Ndereba. The award is typically given to athletes who have performed well in marathon races, half marathons and road running events in general. One exception to this was when Paul Tergat was given the 1996 award in honour of his 10,000 metres world record on the track and his second victory at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.[3]

Winners

Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia has received the award three times.
Kenya's Tegla Loroupe is the most decorated athlete with four awards.
Year Men's winner Women's winner
1992  Benson Masya (KEN)  Liz McColgan (GBR)
1993  Dionicio Cerón (MEX) Not awarded
1994  Vincent Rousseau (BEL)  Uta Pippig (GER)
1995 Not awarded  Tegla Loroupe (KEN)
1996  Paul Tergat (KEN)  Uta Pippig (GER)
1997  Josia Thugwane (RSA)  Tegla Loroupe (KEN)
1998  Ronaldo da Costa (BRA)  Tegla Loroupe (KEN)
1999  Abel Antón (ESP)  Tegla Loroupe (KEN)
2000  Gezahegne Abera (ETH)  Naoko Takahashi (JPN)
2001  Josephat Kiprono (KEN)  Catherine Ndereba (KEN)
2002  Khalid Khannouchi (USA)  Paula Radcliffe (GBR)
2003  Paul Tergat (KEN)  Paula Radcliffe (GBR)
2004  Stefano Baldini (ITA)  Mizuki Noguchi (JPN)
2005  Jaouad Gharib (MAR)  Paula Radcliffe (GBR)
2006  Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)  Lornah Kiplagat (NED)
2007  Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)  Lornah Kiplagat (NED)
2008  Samuel Wanjiru (KEN)  Constantina Dita (ROM)
2009  Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)  Mary Keitany (KEN)
2010  Patrick Makau (KEN)  Liliya Shobukhova (RUS)
2011  Geoffrey Mutai (KEN)  Mary Keitany (KEN)
2012  Geoffrey Mutai (KEN)  Tiki Gelana (ETH)

References

  1. ↑ 25 years of international cooperation - AIMS celebrates Silver Jubilee. IAAF (2007-11-10). Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
  2. ↑ Keitany Wins AIMS/Asics Women's Athlete Of The Year. Track & Field News. Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Awards. Association of International Marathons and Distance Races. Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
  4. ↑ Loroupe collects top distance runner award for record fourth time. IAAF (2000-09-08). Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
  5. ↑ Makau named AIMS athlete of year. IAAF (2011-05-21). Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
List of winners

External links