The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), an organization dedicated to governing the sport of athletics worldwide, is asking its readers to help them select the 2010 World Athletes of the Year.  There are several Africans on the roster this year including Bernard Lagat (Kenya/USA), David Rudisha (Kenya), Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea), Milcah Chemos Cheywa (Kenya), and Meseret Defar (Ethiopia).

David Rudisha

Bernard Lagat holds the world indoor title at 3000m and is the Continental Cup winner. He holds North American records at both 3000m & 5000m. David Rudisha has two world records at 800m (1:41.09 & 1:41.01), plus wins at the African Championships and Continental Cup, all part of an unbeaten sequence of 11 finals and four preliminaries. Zersenay Tadese holds the world record breaker at half marathon and 20km with marks of 58:23 & 55:21, and holds the individual and team silvers at the World Half Marathon Championships. Milcah Chemos Cheywa has seven out of 11 wins at the 3000m Steeplechase and came in second in the other four races. She is the winner of the Diamond Race and Commonwealth Games titles and holds the world lead of 9:11.71. Meseret Defar holds the world indoor and Continental Cup titles at 3000m. She also holds the world lead 14:24.79 at 5000m, set indoors.

The full list of nominees are as follows:

Men

Christian Cantwell USA

Tyson Gay USA

Steven Hooker AUS

Bernard Lagat USA

Christophe Lemaître FRA

David Oliver USA

David Rudisha KEN

Zersenay Tadese ERI

Teddy Tamgho FRA

Andreas Thorkildsen NOR

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Women

Veronica Campbell Brown JAM

Milcah Chemos Cheywa KEN

Meseret Defar ETH

Jessica Ennis GBR

Allyson Felix USA

Fabiana Murer BRA

Nadezhda Ostapchuk BLR

Olga Rypakova KAZ

Blanka Vlasic CRO

Anita Wlodarczyk POL

Voting is currently in session and will continue until November 7th, 2010, Monaco time. The award ceremony will be held in Monaco on November 21, 2010. To vote, visit the IAAF website.