Meseret Defar with former Senegalese Prime Minister Habib Thiam (© Oumar Ba)
Ethiopia’s World and Olympic 5000m champion Meseret Defar was the premier award winner of the 2007 Abdou Diouf Foundation award for Sport Virtues in Dakar, Senegal on Wednesday (21).
On the men's side, Nigeria's continental record holder and champion for 100m, Olusoji Fasuba, 23, won the Prix d’Honneur. He was fourth in the World Championships final and won the All Africa Games title this summer.
At the 9th Gala of the Foundation organized in the national theatre in the Senegalese capital, Defar, who grabbed her first World title over the 5000m at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan, won the Prix d’Excellence for her outstanding achievements in the 2007 season where she smashed her own 5000m outdoor record by eight seconds to take victory in Oslo, Norway and reduced the World indoor 3000m record by four seconds in Stuttgart, Germany in February.
In a bumper year, Defar also recorded two world bests for two-miles on the road in Carson, California, USA and on the track in Brussels, Belgium. In the latter race, she reduced her own mark by an astonishing eleven seconds to become the firs female runner to dip under 8 minutes for the distance.
Defar, who celebrated her 24th birthday on 19 November, received her award from the Vice President of the Foundation Falilou Kane in the presence of top sports personalities. Created in 1987, the Abdou Diouf Foundation, has the aim of promoting excellence in sport.
The two-time World Indoor 3000m champion will now make a quick stopover in Addis Ababa before heading off to Monaco to attend the 2007 World Athletics Gala on Sunday (25) where she is a nominee for the Female Athlete of the Year.
Elshadai Negash for the IAAF