Hey there, sports fans! 🏃♂️🏃♀️ Guess what? Two amazing athletes just got some super cool awards! Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands and Letsile Tebogo from Botswana were named Athletes of the Year by World Athletics at a big ceremony in Monaco! 🇲🇨
Sifan Hassan’s Amazing Feats 🌟
Sifan Hassan is a fantastic long-distance runner. She had an incredible time at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics! 🥇 In just seven days, she won a gold medal in the marathon and two bronze medals in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters races. Wow! 🤩 She even outsprinted the world record holder Tigist Assefa from Ethiopia to win the marathon by just three seconds! Talk about close! 🏁
After receiving her award, Sifan said, “I never thought I was going to win this one. This year was crazy. It’s not only me. All the athletes have been amazing.” She’s so humble! 😊
Letsile Tebogo Makes History 🌍
Letsile Tebogo is a super-fast sprinter. He became the first African athlete to win Olympic gold in the 200-meter race! 🥇 He ran an incredible time of 19.46 seconds at the Stade de France, beating two top American runners, Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles. Amazing! 🚀
“This means a lot,” Tebogo said. “There are a lot of fans out there that really want us to win something great for the continent. It was a real surprise to hear my name because I didn’t expect this.” So inspiring! 💪
Other Stars Shine Bright ✨
Many other athletes were honored too:
- Armand Duplantis from Sweden won the men’s field award. He’s a pole vaulter who set a new world record of 6.26 meters! 🎯
- Yaroslava Mahuchikh from Ukraine won in the women’s field category. She set a new high jump world record of 2.10 meters! 🏆
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone from the USA broke her own world record in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, winning gold with a time of 50.37 seconds! 🏅
- Tamirat Tola from Ethiopia won the men’s out-of-stadium award after winning the Olympic marathon. 🏃♂️
- Sembo Almayew from Ethiopia and Mattia Furlani from Italy both won the rising star honors! 🌠
During the ceremony, everyone also remembered Kelvin Kiptum, the marathon world record-holder who sadly passed away earlier this year. 🕊️
Celebrating Greatness 🎉
It’s so awesome to see athletes from all over the world achieving such great things! Maybe one day, we’ll see you up there receiving awards too! Keep dreaming big and working hard! 🚀
Reference(s):
Olympic champions Hassan and Tebogo honored as Athletes of the Year
cgtn.com
