Taylor up for World Athlete of the Year Award

Katie Taylor is in the running for the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Athlete of the Year Award in the USA.

The Olympic and five-time World champion is in Washington ahead of tonight’s, October 29th, ANOC awards at the DAR Constitution Hall.

Three of the best male and female athletes from this year’s Continental Games have been shortlisted.

Taylor won gold and the best female athlete award (in all sports) at June’s inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan

In order to ensure that athletes were kept at the very heart of the selection process, ANOC asked each of the Continental Associations’ Athletes’ Commissions to select a shortlist of the three best male and three best female athletes from the Games. The Athletes’ Commissions were asked to consider athletes whose performances became an iconic part of the Games’ success and not just those athletes who had won the most medals. The ANOC Jury was then responsible for selecting the winners from the shortlist.

Pat Hickey, President of the Olympic Council of Ireland and the European Olympic Committee, is also in Washington for the ANOC awards.

Some of the world’s top Olympians, including Ryan Lochte, 11-time Olympic medallist in swimming; Katie Ledecky, Olympic gold medallist in swimming at London 2012; Kirsty Coventry, seven-time Olympic medallist in swimming; Angela Ruggiero, IOC member and four-time Olympic medallist in ice hockey; Barbara Kendall, IOC member, ANOC Athletes’ Commission chair and three-time Olympic medallist in wind surfing; and Sergey Bubka, gold medallist in pole vault at Seoul 1988, will present tonight’s awards.

ANOC President, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, said: “We are delighted to have so many exceptional athletes taking part in the ANOC Awards 2015. The ANOC Awards should be a true celebration of NOCs and their athletes and the presence of world-famous Olympic athletes to present the awards will make the evening even more special.

“We wanted this year’s event to be by the athletes for the athletes and so athletes will be involved at every stage, from selecting the award winners all the way to presenting the awards themselves.”