BRIGETTE FOSTER DESERVES TO BE FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

There has been much debate since the selection of Brigette Foster Hylton as Female Athlete of the Year; was she the right choice? I say she was.
For the first time in our long and storied history on Track and Field Jamaica had three world champions to choose from and those choices could not have been easy.
Shelly Ann Fraser, the Beijing Olympic 100 metre champion did even better in Berlin. In Beijing the pint-sized sprinter clocked 10.78, the fastest time in the world to win that title. In Berlin, she was even faster, taking the world title in 10.73, eclipsing Ottey’s national record of 10.74.

 Fraser was also a member of the gold-medal winning 4×100 metres relay team.

Melaine Walker could also have easily been the choice too. After setting a new Olympic record in winning gold in Beijing, she came to Berlin in even better form, winning over the favoured Lashinda Demus in 52.42s, the second fastest time in history.
Foster Hylton, however, did something that neither Fraser nor Walker, managed last season. She became the first, the very first sprint hurdler in Jamaica’s history to win a gold medal at a global event.
She also did it after returning from retirement. The attractive wife of Patrick Hylton, the CEO of the National Commercial Bank, having stepped away out of the frustration of failing to win a medal in Beijing, was perhaps looking at finally starting a family, but was convinced to return by her coach Stephen Francis. And even when she did return, coaxed into giving it one last shot, she did not look as convincing leading up to the world championships.
Yes, she was in the thick of things in most of the races she ran leading up to the world championships, but going into Berlin, Foster Hylton was not even considered a medal contender.
The American Dawn Harper, who surprised the world by winning gold in Beijing, was favoured to win again and based on what she did in the semi-finals, it seemed that she would once again relegate Foster Hylton to the minor placings; sending the Jamaican back into retirement well short of her career goals.
We all saw what happened next.

Brigette did not lose a race after Berlin, seven straight wins, including the World Athletics Finals, dipping below 12.50 seconds a few times in the process.
Fraser lost several times to American Carmelita Jeter and looked a tired athlete as the season wound down. Foster who is older by a decade, looked refreshed and rejuvenated, confident that she was the best sprint hurdler in the world, and that’s why she deserved to be the female athlete of the year.