IAAF announces Dibaba, Eaton as athletes of the year

The IAAF named Ethiopian middle-distance runner Genzebe Dibaba and American decathlete Ashton Eaton as World Athletes of the Year on Thursday.

Dibaba, 24, is the current world record holder in the women’s 1500m and holds three indoor world records. Dibaba, the sister of three-time Olympic champion Tirunesh, claimed gold in the 1500m at the world championships in Beijing.

Eaton broke his own decathlon world record at the world championships in Beijing in August. The 27-year-old also won world gold in Moscow in 2013, a year after clinching Olympic gold in London.

Eaton is married to Canadian heptathlete star Brianne Theisen-Eaton, a silver medalist at the 2015 World Championships.

Eaton took the award despite sprint superstar Usain Bolt clinching a fifth triple gold showing in a major championships in Beijing.

The Jamaican star had performed the same feat at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in Beijing and London, and world championships in 2009 and 2013 in Berlin and Moscow.

The IAAF normally holds a star-studded season-ending awards gala in Monaco, but that was cancelled this year following allegations of corruption at the highest echelons of world track and field’s governing body.