Usain Bolt ... only Jamaican among the finalists for th\e IAAF's Athlete of the Year

Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, is the only Jamaican still in contention for the 2008 World Athlete of the Year award.

Following the poll of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the votes of Internet fans, the IAAF, in a release posted on its website yesterday, selected the three male and the three female finalists who are still in the running to become the 2008 World Athlete of the Year.

Bolt, who won three gold medals - 100m (9.69) 200m (19.30) and 4x100m (37.10) all in world record times, is fancied for the award ahead of Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, the Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion and Cuban 110m hurdles world record holder Dayron Robles, who won in Beijing.

In the women's field, Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, who won the 5,000 and 10,000 double in Beijing and broke the 5,000m world record (14:11.15) earlier in the season, and Kenyan Pamela Jelimo, the Olympic 800m champion, who ran a world junior record of 1:54.01 (in Zurich in August), the fastest time in 25 years, are on the final list.

Difficult task

However, they face a difficult task as pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, who won at the Olympics with a world record leap of 5.05m, the 24th of her career and fourth for the season, is in pole position.

Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown and Melaine Walker, who achieved an Olympic record of 52.64 in the 400m hurdles, did not make the final cut.

Campbell-Brown and Walker, of the 10 nominees, finished fourth and fifth overall.

Meanwhile, seven Jamaicans, including the men's sprint relay quartet, are among the list of nominees for the Performance of the Year.

Heads the men's list

Bolt's 9.69 to win the 100m, easing down 15 metres from the line, and his 19.30 seconds in the 200m, an improvement of two hundredths of a second over American Michael Johnson's 12-year-old mark, head the men's list.

The 4x100m quartet of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Bolt and Asafa Powell, in running order, combined for 37.10 to break the previous mark of 37.60 held by the United States for 15 years.

On the female side, Campbell-Brown's 21.74 to defend her 200m crown, Walker's 52.64 Olympic record run and Shelly-Ann Fraser's 10.78, the second fastest time by a Jamaican, are the nominees.

The winners of the 2008 World Athlete of the Year Awards will be announced live, on stage, during the 2008 World Athletics Gala, which will take place in Monaco, on November 23.

Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica jumps for joy after winning the women's 100-metre final yesterday.

Jamaica's gold medal winning sprint relay runners (from left) Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell have been nominated for Performance of the Year. The team clocked a world record 37.10 seconds.