15th June 2006 10:18
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André Bucher and Stephanie Graf
Two
800m runners from an alpine country won the Waterford Crystal European
Athlete of the Year Trophy 2001: World champion André Bucher from
Switzerland just hundred points ahead of last year's Trophy winner Jan
Zelezny (CZE) and the double silver medalist Stephanie Graf from
Austria with a clear margin between 100m world champion Zhanna
Pintusevich (UKR). 2217 officials, media representatives, athletes und
fans from 48 nations took part in the 9th edition of the election for
the European Athlete of the Year, which was held for the third time as
an online poll on the EAA website.
With
this Trophy André Bucher (25) collects one more honour at the end of
his outstanding season: Gold in Edmonton, one of the Golden League
Jackpot winners, overall Grand Prix winner, in 800m only once beaten by
Yuriy Borzakovskiy (RUS) and bronze at the World Indoors in Lisbon are
his competition highlights. One of the three finalists of the World
Athletes of the Year Award and Swiss Sportsman of the Year are the
rewards for his performances. At Weltklasse Zürich, where Bucher
achieved a second win in a row, he improved his Swiss national record
to 1:42.55.
Every fifth participant on this vote set Bucher on the first place (434) while javelin thrower Jan Zelezny, who won the Trophy twice in 1996 and 2000, got 208 1st places. A exceptional number of voters from Lithuania pushed their discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna to the 3rd position. 50km walking champion Robert Korzeniowski (POL), Triple jumper Jonathan Edwards (GBR), decathlon world champion Tomas Dvorak (CZE) and world record holder Roman Sebrle (CZE) followed close together on ranks 4 to 7.
Despite
not winning a gold medal this year Stephanie Graf (28) achieved a clear
majority. 352 people set the 2nd of the World Indoor and Outdoor
Championships on the 1st place, 92 more than Zhanna Pintusevich. The
outstanding athlete from Austria missed the title in Edmonton just for
three hundredths of a second. Here as well as at the World Indoors
Maria Mutola (MOZ) was a lash impact ahead. Graf ran in this final race
her third best time ever (1:57.20) and one of 12 performances under 2
minutes.
With Pintusevich, Gabriela Szabo (ROM/1500m) and Fiona May (ITA/Long Jump) the next positions are held by three world champions from Edmonton. The world cross country champion Paula Radcliffe (GBR), who missed in Canada bronze over 10000m by 8 hundredths, is fifth.
Bucher and Graf are the first winners of the Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy from their countries. The award ceremony will be held at the evening before the start of the European Indoor Championships 2002 in Vienna (AUT/1 to 3 March).