Bolt bests Djokovic, Messi for best male athlete

Usain Bolt & Serena Williams
Usain Bolt & Serena Williams

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt beat professional tennis player Novak Djokovic and Argentine footballer Lionel Messi to take the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Best Male Athlete 2015 Award.
The AIPS said that in a year dominated by athletics feats and tennis dominance, Bolt and American tennis star Serena Williams were voted the best athletes this year by a panel of sports journalists from 91 countries.
Bolt, regarded as the fastest man on earth, secured 804 votes in the AIPS Best Athlete poll, followed by Djokovic with 774 votes, and Argentina and FC Barcelona’s Messi with 380 votes.
The Jamaican is a record five-time winner of the AIPS Best Male Athlete award.
He is the reigning 100m and 200m world champion and was also part of the Jamaican team that won the 4x100m relay at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing earlier this year. He is the first man to hold both the world records for the sprints, is an 11-time world champion, and has six Olympic medals.
In the women’s section of the Best Athlete awards, Williams – who continued her dominance in tennis this year, winning the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon Grand Slams and recording her 700th career victory – received 664 votes, ahead of Ethiopian runner and 1500m world champion and world record holder Genzebe Dibaba (362) and Dutch sprinter and 200m world champion and record holder Dafne Schippers (283).
This is the fourth year in a row the U.S. queen of tennis has been voted AIPS Best Female Athlete.