Gay and Defar named as IAAF athletes of the year

By Bob Ramsak

MONACO (Reuters) - American double world sprint champion Tyson Gay and Ethiopian distance runner Meseret Defar were named the 2007 World Athletes of the Year on Sunday.

Both athletes received a $10,000 cash award at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics Gala.

Gay, 25, won three gold medals at the Osaka world championships last August, sweeping the 100 and 200 meters and running the third leg on the victorious 4x100m relay team.

In the 100, Gay clocked 9.85, relegating world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica to third. In the 200, he clocked 19.76, beating Michael Johnson's meeting record. He was only the fourth athlete to collect three gold medals at a single world championships.

Defar, 24, shattered her own world record in the 5,000 meters, clocking 14 minutes 16.63 seconds in Oslo in June, to lower her previous mark by more than eight seconds.

The current Olympic 5,000 champion, Defar also won the event in Osaka and twice lowered the world best for two miles. She also set a world record indoors in the 3,000, running 8:23.72 in Stuttgart in February.

"I don't have words to describe how happy I am," said Defar, who dedicated the award to women athletes in Ethiopia.

Powell and Croatia's world high jump champion Blanka Vlasic received awards for the performances of the year. Powell broke his own world record in the 100 meters in September, clocking 9.74 seconds, while Vlasic, who won 18 of 19 competitions this year, was honored for her 2.07 leap in Stockholm which equaled the third highest jump ever outdoors.

(Editing by John Mehaffey)