Yelena on Top of the World
21 Feb 2010Yelena has received another prestigious honour after setting new indoor and outdoor world records in the pole vault in 2009.
She beat off stiff competition from a host of global superstars across all sports in a special online survey organised on behalf of the United States Sports Academy.
The poll, conducted with the help of the influential and global-reaching websites of NBC Sports and USA Today, attracted more than 1.7 million votes overall to earn Yelena the title of United States Sports Academy Female Athlete of the Year.
Yelena’s two world records in 2009 – 5.00m indoors achieved in Donetsk and 5.06m outdoors from Zurich – were the crucial factors in winning her this notable title.
Runner-up to Yelena was Mexican golf star Lorena Ochoa while Kenyan distance runner Linet Masai was third.
Male Athlete of the Year was Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines, with Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer second and Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt third.
The United States Sports Academy, based at Daphne, Alabama, is an independent, nonprofit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and the world with programs in instruction, research and service.
For more information see the full press release from the United States Sports Academy here or visit the Academy’s website at: www.ussa.edu
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