Usain Bolt Wins IAAF World Athlete of the Year for the Sixth Time

The fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt has set another record, winning the IAAF male Athlete of the Year award for sixth time. The Jamaican sprinter took his overall total to nine Olympic gold medals at Rio 2016 with his third 100 metres, 200m and 4x100m relay hat-trick and was nominated for the award alongside Mo Farah and David Rudisha. Bolt was presented the award by IAAF president Sebastian Coe in Monaco on Friday night, while the Female Athlete of the Year went to Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana. Canada’s Andre de Grasse, the 22-year-old who won 200m silver and 100m bronze in Rio, was named Male Rising Star, while Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam, 22, won the female award.

“It’s definitely a big deal,” said the Jamaican of the award he also won in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Bolt will retire next year, following the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, to reportedly play football for the German club Borussia Dortmund.