Jessica Ennis
Jessica Ennis (Coach: Toni Minichiello) and David Weir (Jenny Archer) have been voted British Olympic and Paralympic Athlete of the Year for 2012 by athletics fans across the country.
Ennis secured 48% of the vote, beating double Olympic Champion Mo Farah (Alberto Salazar) by just 4%, whilst Weir also collected 48% of the votes narrowly pipping double gold medallist Hannah Cockroft (Peter Eriksson) to the post.
After winning silver in the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul in March, Ennis’ crowning glory was winning heptathlon gold at the London Olympic Games to the delight of the 80,000 capacity crowd.
En route to victory Ennis recorded the fastest ever 100m hurdles time in a heptathlon, while also extending her British record with a score of 6955.
The Sheffield star was delighted to receive the award and said:
“Thank you to all of the UK Athletics fans for voting me the British Olympic Athlete of the Year – what an honour!
“The support of all the athletics fans is so important for us athletes and this year especially – your support at all the events running up to London was so important. What a great year 2012 has been!”
Weir, arguably one of the most successful Paralympians of all time, raced to a record-equalling sixth London Marathon victory before going on to win an incredible four golds in London.
The 33 year old produced a world class display to win gold in the 800m, 1500m, 5000m and marathon to go alongside the two golds he picked up in Beijing four years ago.
Weir, who became known as the Weirwolf during the Games, said:
“It’s a great honour to have been voted British Paralympic Athlete of the Year, especially considering that Great Britain had a number of athletes that won gold medals and performed so well in London.
“It’s been such a great year for me and my success at the Paralympics is something that I will always remember. To have my performances recognised by athletics fans across the country is a great way to end the year.”
[…] Jessica Ennis (Coach: Toni Minichiello) and David Weir (Jenny Archer) have been voted British Olympic and Paralympic Athlete of the Year for 2012 by athletics fans across the country. Ennis secured 48% of the vote, beating double Olympic Champion Mo Farah (Alberto Salazar) by just 4%, whilst Weir also collected 48% of the votes narrowly […] Time-to-Run Global News […]