Tyson Gay and Sanya Richards have been voted as Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year. Nike presented the Jesse Owens Athletes of the Year Fan Vote and fan voting results have been declared. According to the results, Tyson Gay and Sanya Richards have been selected as the best athletes of the year by their fans. The fan votes declared that the two athletes deserve the 2009 Jesse Owens Athletes of the Year awards. Both the winners will receive their awards on December 5 when the Jesse Owens Awards and Hall of fame induction ceremony will be held. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of USA Tracks & Fields (USATF). The meeting will be held at Indianapolis from 2nd December to 6th December.

The candidates for the awards were listed on the USATF website i.e. www.usatf.org. The male and female nominees were listed separately. The male nominees included renowned athletes such as Kerron Clement, Trey Hardee, Tyson Gay, Bernard Lagat, and LaShawn Merrit, Christian Cantwell, and Dwight Phillips. The female nominees included Allyson Felix, Brittney Reese, Jenny Barringer, Carmelita Jeter, and Sanya

Richards. The voting continued for more than a week and more than 18,000 votes were casted by the fans. Gay and Richards dominated the votes hence declared the 2009 winners.

The Jesse Owens Awards organization also chose two voters randomly. These voters will be given prize packages which include an autographed shirt of Team USA, a Team USA medal, and Nike bag.

Jesse Owens Awards were created by USA Tracks & Fields in 1981 to pay homage to Jesse Owens who was an American Athlete and have won four gold medals in single Olympics championship. The Jesse Owens Awards is the highest honor and accolade of USA Tracks & Fields.

Jesse Owens