Caster Semenya a nominee for IAAF award

South African middle-distance runner, 2016 Olympic gold medallist and 2017 World Athletics Championship winner of the 800 m for women, Caster Semenya was nominated for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Athlete of the Year Award.
The announcement was made in Monaco on Monday and Semenya is the only South African female on the list of ten while the names of two South Africans, Wayde van Niekerk and Luvo Manyonga appear on the mens’ list.
A press release received from the IAAF stated that a three-way voting process will determine the finalists. “The IAAF Council and the IAAF Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the IAAF’s social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook and Twitter later this week; a ‘like’ or ‘favourite’ will count as one vote. The IAAF Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the IAAF Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result. Voting closes on 16 October. At the conclusion of the voting process, three men and three women finalists will be announced by the IAAF. The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live on stage at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2017.
Voting opened on Monday and will close on 16 October.
Semenya was also nominated by the United States Sports Academy for their Athlete of the Month of August award and recently won the Sportswoman of the Year Award during the Limpopo Sport and Recreation Awards.

Story: Herbert Rachuene
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