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Bolt, Farah, Thompson among 2017 nominees

The winners will be announced at the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony on Feb. 14 in Monaco, Spain.

Usain Bolt cruises to an easy win in the men's 100-meter semifinal at the Rio Olympics.

A statement on the iaaf.org, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) website on Thursday said that Bolt was a three-time winner of the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.

The statement said he successfully defended his Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles to leave Rio as one of the 2016 Olympic Games’ biggest heroes.

It added that the 30-year-old Jamaican received the honour in 2009, 2010 and 2013.

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It said that Farah, 33, successfully defended his Olympic titles at 5000m and 10,000m to become only the second man to achieve the back-to-back “double double’’ over the distances.

Thompson, who won the Olympic 100m and 200m titles in Rio and U.S. sprinter Allyson Felix, the Olympic 400m silver medallist are nominated for the World Sportswoman of the Year Award.

It said that elsewhere, Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia and South African Wayde van Niekerk were nominated for the World Breakthrough of the Year award.

Both set world records in Rio, Ayana in the 10,000m and van Niekerk in the 400m. In December, Ayana and Bolt were named Athletes of the Year and the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016.

Ruth Beitia, Spain’s Olympic and European high jump champion was among the nominees in the Comeback of the Year category.

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Outside of athletics, tennis star Andy Murray, NBA stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry were also nominated in the men’s category.

Other women nominated for the top honour include gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Katie Ledecky of the U.S., German tennis star Angelique Kerber and British cyclist Laura Kenny.

The statement said that the nominees were selected following a ballot by the world’s sports media.

It added that the winners will be announced at the Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony on Feb. 14 in Monaco, Spain.

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