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As the World Athletics Athlete of the Year awards saga continues, Seb Coe has come out to clear the air.
World Athletics president Seb Coe has revealed the reasons for the controversial Athlete of the Year (AOTY) new format and his surprise at Noah Lyles's outburst.
The athletics council changed the format of the AOTY Award for the first time since its inception by awarding six winners in different categories instead of just the best Male and Female Athlete in a season.
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"The depth of talent and the outstanding performances in our sport this year more than justify the expansion of the World Athletics Awards to recognize the accomplishments of these six athletes across a range of disciplines," explained Coe during the award ceremony in Monaco.
"Our World Athletes of the Year alone have achieved seven world records between them in 2023, as well as a host of world titles and major wins, so it is only fitting that they be recognized as the athletes of the year in their respective disciplines."
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Lyles, who won the Male Athlete of the Year (Track), was unhappy with this new change as he came online to express his displeasure at the turnout of events at the award night in Monaco.
"I believe I found the right words for what happened at the AOY awards. When they decided to split the award without telling any of us, including the fans that voted. It made me feel that none of our achievements were good enough to be AOY.
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"I’m guessing that was not WA’s goal but that is how it made me feel. I do believe that there should be more awards included in the event, but not with the exclusion of the AOY award.
"I wish they would have waited until next year to change the format of the awards or not change it in the middle of the process. I also wish @WorldAthletics would have had a conversation with the athletes so we could come up with a more structured plan," tweeted Lyles on his X page.
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20:20 - 14.12.2023
'None of our achievements were good enough' - Noah Lyles fires back at World Athletics on AOTY changes
Triple world champion Noah Lyles bared it all, talking about his displeasure on the World Athletics Athlete of the Year Awards.
Surprised by the outburst of the world's fastest man, Coe will reveal in an interview with nation.africa/Kenya that Lyles and all athletes involved were notified of the new format.
“It is interesting because the athletes that I spoke to and that we communicated to, along with athletes’ representatives and managers all wanted to impress upon us that the sport wasn’t just one discipline,” Coe told Nation Sport.
“And they were very keen, Noah himself was very keen, to have our sport recognized and to have different disciplines reflected and that is what we tried to do.”
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However, the World Athletics boss also added that everything will be reviewed.
"Look at the end of everything - whether it's our administration, our competitions, the way we do our business, we review everything and so we will look at that.
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00:43 - 12.12.2023
African Excellence: Faith Kipyegon leads Kenyan dominance at the 2023 World Athletics Awards
Find out all the winners of the 2023 World Athletics Awards, led by Faith Kipyegon and Noah Lyles.
But I know that we were trying very much to reflect what our athletes were telling us," said Coe.
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