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"id": 5244,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5244/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Ndeti",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports",
"speaker": {
"id": 109,
"legal_name": "Wavinya Ndeti",
"slug": "wavinya-ndeti"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am sorry about that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on 23rd November, 2011, the Member for Rarieda, Eng. Gumbo, rose on a point of order to seek a Ministerial Statement on award of female athlete of the year. I beg to state as follows. The IAAF World Athlete of the Year Award takes place every year to recognize and reward excellence by the athletes in the season under consideration. The season begins in November and ends in October the following year. Some of the winners of the award include Usain Bolt; 200 metres and 4x100 metres relay, world champion and world record holder, from Jamaica in 2011. Mr. David Rudisha, 800 metres World Athletics Champion and world champion and world record holder of Kenya in 2010. The IAAF shortlists outstanding athletes of the season and gives their names out for voting. Voting is done by selected athletics public bodies by sending in their choices of outstanding athletes. The voters are IAAF and IAF council members and IAAF member federations, IAAF committee and commission members, IAAF meeting directors, IAAF ambassadors, athletes’ representatives, top athletes, international Press and IAA staff. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, further eliminations are done in three rounds of voting. The best 10 athletes in each category are put to the final voting and the international community votes for them. The voting ends on the night preceding the Gala Night in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Headquarters of the IAAF where the final verdict is given. The selection of the athletes goes beyond performance and also looks into the outstanding personality of the athletes, media friendliness and etcetera . Because of this, sponsors also lobby behind the scenes and push for their athletes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the hon. Member may wish to note that the decision finally arrived at is final and cannot be petitioned. This year, the female category was won by Sally Pearson of Australia in the 100 metres hurdle race. During the season, she won 10 out of 11 competitions. She won the events at the World Athletics Champions in Daegu, South Korea, with a time of 12.28 seconds which was the fourth fastest time ever in the event. Kenya’s closets athlete to this title was Vivian Cheruiyot who won the Senior Women 8 kilometres event in the World Cross Country Championship in Punta Umbria, Spain. She also won the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres race at the world championship in Daegu. After this rigorous selection process given above, the IAAF council reached the final verdict and made the announcement during the world athletes of the Year Gala in Monaco. I agree with the hon. Member of Rarieda that it would appear that Vivian Cheruiyot’s performance was more impressive than that of the final winner Sally Pearson. However, the decision is final. We cannot contest it. I would further urge Kenyans to get into the habit of voting whenever the opportunity to vote for our people presents itself at the international forum. This would make a significant change in the outcome of this contest in the future. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}