World & US Athletes of the Year--OUTdoors

A while back, I posted my picks for the HS and Collegiate AOY's for the 2014 OUTdoor season.
(My INdoor AOY's were done on March 19th, shortly after the end of that season.)
This post will be for the World and US AOY's for OUTdoors!
Before I get to that, I want to comment on the just-released T&FN choices for AOY.

They chose Renaud Lavillenie and Anita Wlodarcyzk for the World, and Justin Gatlin and Jenny Simpson for the US.
They also posted the entire Top 10 lists.
And boy, do I have some differences of opinion with the "Bible of the Sport"!!
(Let me count the ways!  LOL)

1. They insist that there is really NO differentiation between INdoors and OUTdoors.  While they SAY they give less weight to INdoor accomplishments, their 2014 picks say otherwise.

2. For example, Genzebe Dibaba's 3 INdoor WR's supposedly gave her enough to rate her 6th!  Lavillenie's INdoor cracking of Sergey Bubka's WR got him first!  Yet both of them had far less "Olympian" OUTdoor years.

3. I may be wrong, but I thought T&FN followed the World rankings on  their US rankings lists.  If that's so, then why was Simpson ranked lower than Dawn Harper-Nelson?  Simpson got something like 14th or 15th, while DHN was 10th!

4. Dennis Kimetto broke not only the WR in the Marathon, but he broke a significant barrier as well!  And yet Eliud Kipchoge made the Top 10, while Kimetto was just 3rd in the EVENT rankings!!

I have several other differences of opinion with T&FN's rankings, but I want this post to be about MY rankings!
But I think the above only stiffens my resolve to keep SEPARATE the two very distinct seasons of T&F.
For one thing, keeping them separate gives us the chance to see TWO Collegiate and HS Champs, TWO United States Champs.
It also allows us to choose TWO AOY's, TWO Performances, TWO of everything!!
(End of rant!  LOL)

Here, then are Aaron K's Track and Field Record Book picks for World and US Athletes of the Year for the 2014 OUTdoor season!

World-Men
JUSTIN GATLIN
No WR's or AR's, but he got Age 32 records for the 100 and 200, had the fastest times in 2014, and might have been even better, except a few places didn't invite him to compete for totally biased reasons, which I considered totally unfair!!
Yes, he has 2 drug busts to his name, but he's paid the price, according to the rules!
If you play a game with rules, you OBEY the rules, or don't play!
For that reason, and because no others performed as consistently well as Gatlin, in TWO events no less, I had to choose Gatlin as my Men's AOY!
(Keeping to my "separate seasons" rule, there was NO chance that Lavillenie's OUTdoor season would rate ahead of Gatlin.  In fact, he would barely make my Top 5!)
Given a bunch of points were Dennis Kimetto, Lashawn Merritt, Ayanleh Souleiman, Mutaz Barshim, Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, and Bogdan Bondarenko.

US-Men
JUSTIN GATLIN
As I've done in the past, when an American is AOY for the World, he or she also is Number One for the US!
Others who rated high were Galen Rupp, Merritt, Evan Jager, Christian Taylor, and Will Leer.

World Best Performance-Men
DENNIS KIMETTO's 2:02:57 Marathon
Sure, marathon records are a dime a dozen in recent years, but breaking a minute barrier isn't!.
For dipping under 2:03, Kimetto wins POY!
Points also to Rupp's 26:44, Gatlin's 19.68, Barshim's 7-11.50 and Bondarenko's 7-11.25.

US Best Performance-Men
GALEN RUPP's AR 26:44.36.
Other good ones were Jager's AR 8:04.71, Gatlin's marks of 9.77 and 19.68, Meb Keflighizi's 2:08:37, and Will Claye's 58-3.
Meb's mark was included more for his time (a PR at age 38) than for his winning Boston!

(I'm creating a new award for this blog.  It's my "Personality of the Year".  What does it entail?  I can say what it does NOT entail!  It does NOT concern records and marks, nor places in meets or on lists.  But it DOES include one's.....PERSONALITY!  This signifies what he or she has done to make people REACT, in positive or negative ways, to what they've done throughout the year.  Did it make you angry?  Did you cry, or laugh out loud?)

World Personality of the Year-Men
JUSTIN GATLIN
Perhaps this rates---in some people's minds!---with Time magazine making the Ayatollah Khomeini their Man of the Year several decades ago!  LOL
Gatlin was persona non grata at some DL's, and in the smoke-filled rooms where AOY's were chosen.
He was viciously attacked on Twitter, and I assume, other social media.
His name was.....(censored)!
But gosh, he seems like such a nice sweet guy!
Whatever the case, he got more "ink" for being T&F's "Bad Boy" than for his accomplishment's on the track!
Honorable Mention goes to Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad, T&F's notorious "Topless Hunk"!
Also given points was Nick Symmonds, but only in retrospect, as he described his bed-hopping days in his new memoir "Life Outside the Oval Office", making what President Clinton did seem like kindergarten stuff!!

US Personality of the Year-Men
JUSTIN GATLIN
(See above!)
Honorable Mention to Nick Symmonds.
(Also see above!)

Now for the Women!

World-Women
ANITA WLODARCZYK
Yes, I agree with Track and Field News on this one!
She was the only woman to break a WR.  (Again, this is for the OUTdoor season ONLY, with ZERO consideration to anything they might have done INdoors!!  ZERO!!!)
The rest of the candidates had mixed seasons!
In several events, it was hard to pick just the EVENT winner, let alone the OVERALL Athlete of the Year list possibilities!
Going back to what I said in the beginning, was Genzebe Dibaba the best Women's distance runner this year, or was it Mercy Cherono?  Was Jenny Simpson's consistency enough to offset other's faster times?
In the strongest Women's events, the favorites lost some, or underperformed!
So Sandra Perkovic and Valerie Adams, to name two, suffered.
But a WR is a WR, so Ms Wlodarczyk wins the Big Prize!

US-Women
JENNY SIMPSON
Yes, I again agree with T&FN!
(And if she had broken Mary Slaney's AR, she MIGHT have gotten World AOY too!!)
Simpson ruled over the 1500/Mile like few others before her....except maybe Slaney in her best years!
But she had some pretty hefty company, and not just in her event(s).
Molly Huddle broke her own AR in the 5000.
Shannon Rowbury broke through THREE significant barriers--4:00 in the 1500, 8:30 in the 3000, and 15:00 (and 14:50!) in the 5000.
Shalane Flanagan ran two of the fastest-ever Marathons, in two entirely different parts of the world!
Maria Michta, though toiling in perhaps the LEAST popular T&F events--the Walks--nonetheless broke the AR TWICE over 20000 meters!
Gia Lewis-Smallwood, though, was given the most "second place" points!
She beat the "unbeatable" Sandra Perkovic---TWICE, and CRUSHED the AR in the DT by over 4 feet!
She was SO close to Simpson that, tomorrow, I'll probably regret giving the award to Jenny!

World Best Performance-Women
Caterine Ibarguen's 50-3 Triple Jump!
This one got some significant competition!
Helen Obiri's 8:20.68 was the fastest NON-Chinese 3000 OUTdoors ever!!
The main reason that mark wasn't given top prize was because there were several other VERY fast 3000's from women this year!
Ibarguen had little to fear in her event!
Perkovic had the longest DT since the 90's, but it rates much lower on my World DDD than the others.

US Best Performance-Women
GIA LEWIS-SMALLWOOD's 226-11 Discus Throw!
She shattered the old AR by over 4 FEET!!
And she beat the Queen of the Disco----er, Discus!---twice!
At 35 years of age!  (Perkovic's still in knee pants at age 24!!  LOL)
Other marks given MUCH consideration were:
Simpson's 3:57.22
Huddle's 14:42.64
Simpson's and Rowbury's sub-8:30 3K's.
Huddle's 10000 at Payton Jordan.
Flanagan's Marathons.  (BOTH of them!)
And last, but definitely NOT least--Emma Coburn's entire series of 3000SC's, especially her AR of 9:11.42.

World Personality of the Year-Women
ALYSIA MONTANO
This maybe should go under another title--such as US Eye-Popper of the Year--but her appearance at, and RACING in, the USATF Championship 800 while 34 weeks pregnant--certainly made the news outlets of the world stop talking politics, war and peace, or Kim Kardashian's latest nude selfie--and give this lady the attention she deserved!
What a beautiful moment!
Tears of joy and laughter abounded.
While there was SOME controversy--Was it safe for her baby?--it was so positive a statement of the strength, health, and POWER of WOMAN--that whatever negativity was produced was ignored, and soon forgotten!
And her beautiful child was born just a few short weeks later, and she is now preparing for a FULL "comeback" in 2015!
A negative candidate--similar to Gatlin for the Men--was Rita Jeptoo.
She was such an incredible runner---cutting a 4:47 mile in the final stages of a VERY fast Marathon--but then she had to go get caught as a druggie!
For SOURING the sport, Jeptoo must be on this short list!

US Personality of the Year-Women
ALYSIA MONTANO
(See above for explanation about World winners who are Americans!)
But while Mommy Montano won the biggie, there were a couple of others who deserve SOME mention!
I nominate Kayla Montgomery, the 18 year old Multiple Sclerosis "victim" who starred in the T&F Video of the Year. (See my Best and Worst post!)
Seek out that video (ESPN's Catching Kayla), and I guarantee your eyes will dampen!!
I give many points to Phoebe Wright.
Her running isn't what it was---She's a 1:58.22 800 gal!---but her Tweets and her Blog posts are classic!
She's by far the funniest, most insightful, and yes, CUTEST (IMHO!!  LOL) middle distance blogger-tweeter around!!
Please follow her on Twitter and Google her Blog.
You will NOT be disappointed!!

Well, that does it for 2014!
I do have a little bit to report, but I'll save it for my next post---and first in the New Year---coming probably on January 2nd!
That will have my review of which records might be broken during the 2015 INdoor season in all 4 categories--World, US, Collegiate, and HS!
(And it will probably take 2 separate posts!!)

Have a Happy (and safe!) New Year!!
See you in 2015!!