Usain Bolt won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year Award 2012 for the fourth time and United States sprinter Allyson Felix won women’s World Athlete of the Year Award 2012 on 24 November 2012 during the IAAF’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. The Jamaican sprinter Bolt had won for defending his gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter races of the summers’ Olympic Games, he also won the same award previously in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Bolt managed to be ahead of United States hurdler Aries Merritt and Kenyan runner David Rudisha to win the award.
Allyson Felix managed to secure her Gold medal in the London Olympics in the 200 meter race. Before this she managed to settle down with the Silver in the Beijing Olympics in the year 2008. New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams and British heptathlete Jessica Ennis were the other finalists of the Women award segment, who also were the gold medalists in London Olympics.
In 2003, Bolt and Felix won the Rising Star awards for the most promising young athletes of the year.