Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, expressed delight at being selected by the worldwide sport journalism community as Sports Man of the Year.

"It's a great honour to be selected as Athlete of the Year by the sport journalists," Bolt said through his manager Norman Peart, yesterday. The Jamaican, along with Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, both International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) Athletes of the Year, were chosen by the International Sports Press Associations in an online poll, which attracted the votes of 571 journalists from 96 nations.

Athletes shone

Both athletes shone in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Bolt, who was devastating, in winning three Olympic gold medals in world-record times, got 1673 votes to beat American swimmer Michael Phelps (1557), who won an unprecedented eight gold medals in the pool.

Spain's tennis player Rafael Nadal (444) and Cristiano Ronaldo (401) had also been in the running.

Bolt also took time out to expressed the sentiment that he was always comfortable around the journalists and looked forward to a continued healthy relationship in the future.

"I look forward to another good year and hope they will be more friendly. Journalists play a great role in the sport industry. They are very important as they provide all the necessary information," he added.

Bolt, 22, lowered his 100m record of 9.72 achieved in New York on May 31 to 9.69 at the Games, before breaking American Michael Johnson's 12-year-old 200m mark of 19.32 by running 19.30.

He then teamed up with former world 100m record-holder Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter to set a third world record in the 4x100m relay in 37.10 seconds.

Apart from the IAAF Male Athlete of the Year award, Bolt had earlier won the Central America and Caribbean Athlete of the Year, Jamaica's Athlete of the Year, the BBC Overseas Sports Personality award, Eurosport Sports Personality of 2008, Track & Field magazine Athlete of the Year, plus the Champion of Champions 2008 label for the French magazine L'Equipe.

Defended title

Meanwhile, Isinbayeva, who was undefeated outdoors in 2008, defended her Olympic pole vault title in Beijing with a leap of 5.05 metres, securing her second successive Olympic gold medal.

Isinbayeva tallied 1723 votes to beat Kenyan Olympic 800m champion Pamela Jelimo (631), Serbia's tennis player Jelena Jankovic (583) and Ethiopia's distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba, a double winner in Beijing (475).

Spain's National Football Team, winners of the 2008 UEFA European Championship in June, was voted Team of the Year, while the Beijing Olympic Games were voted as having the Best Press Facility of 2008.