by Ian Farquharson

Created on: October 30, 2009   Last Updated: November 28, 2009

The Best of 2009: Athletes

There were many great sporting events in 2009 at which a number of the top athletes in the world demonstrated their awesome talents and a few of the memories which will stay with me include England beating Australia to reclaim the Ashes in cricket, 59 year old Tom Watson coming so close to winning the Open Golf Championship and reliving his glory days and also Barcelona defeating Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League Final.

Most sporting fans will have their own memories of their favorite 2009 sporting moments and the great athletes they watched and, for the most part, this tends to be a personal thing depending on which sports you are interested in and watch. However, on occasions an athlete will put in a performance that grabs the attention of the world and which all sport fans will appreciate. For me the best of 2009 included the following athletes.

Usain Bolt

Top of the picks has to be Usain Bolt who had a great 2009 with his season peaking at the 12th Athletics World Championships in Berlin, where he won both the 100m and 200m in world record breaking times. With this feat he became the first man ever to hold both the World Championship and Olympic 100m and 200m titles at the same time.

Bolt's 2009 season must rank as one of the most impressive in sprinting history with a number of record breaking achievements. In April he participated in an unusual 150m event in Manchester and proceeded to win the race in a world record time. Following this he won both the 100m and 200m at the Jamaican National Championships which qualified him for the World Championships and he warmed up for this by running the fourth fastest time ever in the 200m at the Athletissima event in Switzerland.

The 12thAthletics World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany in August. Bolt was participating in both the 100m and 200m and in both events he eased through the heats to secure a place in the final. The 100m was first and this turned out to be one of the fastest races in history with Bolt winning in a world record time of 9.58s. He followed this up with another world breaking run, winning the 200m final in an amazing 19.19s. He ended the race more than half a second ahead of the second placed sprinter, which is a huge margin for such a short race. In recognition of these amazing achievements, he was presented with a piece of the Berlin Wall by the Mayor of Berlin and he was also recently named as the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2009.

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