New Zealand's shot put star Valerie Adams became the first athlete from her country to win the World Athlete of the Year in Monaco on Saturday, and also shared the award with France's pole vault world-record holder Renaud Lavillenie.
The double Olympic champion said that this is for her, her family, her country and all women shot-putters. She said that she is so proud and humbled by this and it makes such a special ending to a challenging but very successful year for her.
Four-time world champion Adams also said that they have such a great sport and they should all be very proud of what their sport brings. She also thanked all the support back in her home country New Zealand, saying that it's nice to have this award for her country as well, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Adams put a lot of her success down to her Swiss coach Jean-Pierre Egger, her Auckland-based physio Lou Johnson and the support team around her.
Adams, who has won 56 successive events, said that it was rare for field events to muscle out the glamour events such as sprinting. Sharing the award with Adams was France's pole vault world-record holder Renaud Lavillenie.
Lavillenie, who set the new world record of 6.16 metre in Donetsk on February 15 succeeds sprint star Usain Bolt as the best athlete of the year and is the first French winner since 1988.Lavillenie, who is also the reigning Olympic champion, said that there can't have been a better year than 2014 and now he has the acknowledgement of the athletics family.
Lavillenie won 21 of his 22 competitions in 2014, a series which included victories in the Diamond League Race as well as at the European Championships and IAAF Continental Cup.
The Frenchman believes that the world record contributed to the award, but he won other competitions too. He added that he wasn't as good as Adams, he lost one competition, but 21 out of 22 is not too bad in an event, which is quite unpredictable.
It is the first time that field event athletes had won both accolades and also the first time that a male pole-vaulter or a female thrower had won the World Athlete of the Year award, the report added.
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