October 4 - Britain's Mo Farah, Jamaica's Yohan Blake and Australia's Sally Pearson are among the 10 men and 10 women shortlisted for the 2011 World Athlete of the Year Award - along with Usain Bolt (pictured), of course.
The male and female winners will be announced live on stage during the 2011 World Athletics Gala in Monaco on November 12 this year.
The list of 20 athletes, selected by an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) panel of eight experts, will now receive email votes from within the world athletics family in a process that will continue until midnight on Sunday, October 23.
Three male and three female finalists will be selected and announced by the IAAF, whose council will then select the two eventual winners.
The candidates are, in alphabetical order:
Men: Yohan Blake (Jamaica), Mo Farah (Britain), Robert Harting (Germany), Kirani James (Grenada), Patrick Makau (Kenya), Koji Murofushi (Japan), David Rudisha (Kenya), Christian Taylor (United States) and Jesse Williams (United States).
Women: Mariya Abakumova (Russia), Valerie Adams (New Zealand), Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica), Tatyana Chernova (Russia), Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya), Anna Chicherova (Russia), Lashinda Demus (United States), Carmelita Jeter (United States), Amantle Montsho (Botswana) and Sally Pearson (Australia).
Source: www.insidethegames.biz
By Mike Rowbottom