KEY POINTS:
American double world sprint champion Tyson Gay and Ethiopian distance runner Meseret Defar have been named the 2007 world athletes of the year.
Both received a US$100,000 ($131,500) cash award at the International Association of Athletics Federation's World Athletics Gala.
Gay, 25, won three gold medals at the Osaka world championships last August, sweeping the 100m and 200m and running the third leg on the victorious 4x100m relay team.
Defar, 24, shattered her own world record in the 5000 metres, clocking 14m 16.63s in Oslo in June, to lower her previous mark by more than eight seconds.
Asafa Powell (Jamaica) and Croatia's world high-jump champion Blanka Vlasic received awards for the performances of the year.
New Zealand's Valerie Vili, who won the world shot put championship, was nominated for performance of the year.
