Great Britain’s Mo Farah has been nominated for the IAAF’s male athlete of the year award.
Farah, 33, secured a historic ‘double double’ by retaining both his 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic titles at Rio 2016.
Paula Radcliffe, in 2002, was the last British athlete to win one of the IAAF’s end-of-year awards.
Farah faces competition from the likes of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt – a nine-time Olympic gold medallist – and South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk.
He broke Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old 400m world record to claim victory in Rio.
The winner of both the male and female awards will be announced at the IAAF awards dinner in Monaco in December.
The last Briton to win the men’s award was triple jumper Jonathan Edwards in 1995, the year in which he jumped 18.29m, which is still the world record.
South Africa’s Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya is among those nominated for female athlete of the year.
The 25-year-old won gold in Rio to add to her silver medal from London 2012.
Her rivals include Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, who broke the 10,000m world record by over 14 seconds in Rio, and Spain’s Ruth Beitia, who won Olympic high jump gold aged 37.
Who are the nominees?
Men
Usain Bolt (Jamaica): Sealed the ‘triple triple’ in Rio, winning his third Olympic title in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
Thiago Braz (Brazil): Set a new Olympic record of 6.03m to beat defending champion Renaud Lavillenie and claim a surprise Olympic gold.
Ashton Eaton (USA): Became third man to retain the Olympic decathlon title, following Britain’s Daley Thompson and USA’s Bob Mathias.
Mo Farah (GB): Only the second man to retain both the 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic titles.
Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya): Claimed Olympic gold in Rio, four months after winning the London Marathon.
Conseslus Kipruto (Kenya): Broke the Olympic record on his way to 3,000m steeplechase gold this summer.
Omar McLeod (Jamaica): Claimed Jamaica’s first Olympic 110m hurdles gold, to add to his world indoor title from earlier this year.
David Rudisha (Kenya): Became the first athlete since New Zealand’s Peter Snell in 1964 to retain the men’s Olympic 800m title.
Christian Taylor (USA) – Retained his Olympic triple jump title with a leap of 17.86m, adding to his world gold from last year.
Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa): Became the first man to run sub-10 seconds for the 100m, sub-20 for the 200m and sub-44 for the 400m.
Women
Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia): Added 10,000m Olympic gold to the 5,000m world title she won last year, breaking the 23-year-old world record in the process.
Ruth Beitia (Spain): Won Olympic gold in the high jump to add to the world indoor silver medal she claimed earlier this year.
Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya): Claimed 5,000m gold in an Olympic record at her fourth Games.
Kendra Harrison (USA): Broke the 28-year-old 100m hurdles world record, having missed out on selection for the Rio Olympics.
Caterine Ibarguen (Colombia): Won Olympic triple jump gold in Rio, having won at 34 successive meets after taking silver at London 2012.
Ruth Jebet (Bahrain): Clocked the second-fastest time ever to win 3,000m steeplechase gold in Rio.
Sandra Perkovic (Croatia): Successfully defended her Olympic discus title in Rio to extend her unbeaten run this season.
Caster Semenya (South Africa): Won the 800m Olympic title, improving on the silver she won at the London 2012 Games.
Elaine Thompson (Jamaica): Claimed gold in both the 100m and 200m in Rio.
Anita Wlodarczyk (Poland): Broke her own world record to become Olympic champion in Rio – then broke it again two weeks later.
