Usain Bolt named World Athlete of the Year for fifth time

By The Citizen

The 27-year-old Jamaican, who also won last year, clinched 100m, 200m and 100m relay gold in the World Championships in Moscow in August.

Fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took the women’s award after winning the same three golds as Bolt in Russia.

Earlier this week, the 27-year-old said she will refuse to run in major events unless Jamaica’s athletics authorities “stand by” their athletes.

Bolt, who beat Britain’s double world champion from Moscow Mo Farah to the award, became the most successful athlete in the history of the World Championships this year with his eighth gold and 10th medal in total.

At the awards ceremony in Monaco, he said his 2014 target was to beat his 200m world record of 19.19 seconds.

“That has always been my dream; that has always been my aim,” he said. “This season will be the season when I will be going for world records because there are no major [outdoor] championships.

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The 200m is much easier than the 100m to try for a record and that would be my main focus this season.”

Bolt has previously said he could retire after the 2016 Olympics – but he added he might yet compete at the World Championships in London the following year.

“I was having some talk about this with my coach, and he was saying people had said I should go for another year,” he said.

Fraser-Pryce has now won seven medals at World Championships to add to her four Olympic medals.