Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt was named athlete of the year for the third time Saturday after his double world championship success in Daegu, South Korea. Australia’s Sally Pearson, the world 100m hurdles champion, took the women’s award at the ceremony in Monte Carlo.

Bolt was previously honored by the IAAF, the governing body of athletics, back in 2008 and 2009. He suffered an injury-hit 2010 but returned to his best in 2011 as he defended his 200m global title and then helped Jamaica to win the 4x100m relay in a world record time of 37.04 seconds.

Bolt was disqualified for a false start in the 100m final won by his compatriot Yohan Blake, but won his other five races over the distance with a best time of 9.76 seconds. [. . .] Blake won the award for best male performance of the year with his 19.26 seconds run — the second best ever behind Bolt — in the 200m at the Diamond League final in Brussels.

Bolt recently said that he would like to add the 1,600-meter relay to his repertoire for next year’s Olympics. Bolt won the 100, 200 and 400 relay golds at the 2008 Beijing Games. However, former Olympic 400-meter champion Michael Johnson doubts Bolt will be able to win four gold medals at the London Games.

For full articles, see http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/12/sport/athletics-awards-bolt-pearson/index.html  and http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCuvx-mWjpUaHrs2EtXc5GlmOPkQ?docId=b9cfa82846294b02a1a3b3c973cc3ae7

Photo from http://newsone.com/nation/news-one-staff/usain-bolt-may-go-for-4-gold-medals-at-2012-olympics/