The big question here is where the voters will put Yegorova. I think they'll be divided and she'll end up either just squeaking in or out of top 10 completely. My position is that as she was not disqualified by IAAF, in accordance with their rules, her season should be considered with full merit. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Women's AOY
Top contenders: Marion Jones. Obviously not her best season, yet with only one loss, and a solid year of good (for MJ) and not great performances she deserves to be in top 5. Mutola: WC and 3 top times and victories. Lost 2x to Graf, but beat her 3x and in bigger meets. The two were much closer than their male counterparts Bucher?Borzakovsy. Szekely: Almost a clean season, but the one loss was a big one at Edmonton against Szabo who didn't contest the 1500 much. She was under 4.02 8X. She'll win the selection for best in the 1500. Yegorova: 3x under 8.24 in 3000. Close to WR in 5000. Undefeated season in 3 to 5K. Focused on 3000, had only 1 5000 race under 15, and also ran 4.02.6 in 1500. My choice for no: 2. Bidouane: Only 1 loss prior to Edmonton. Clear winner at WC with great time, inevitable let down afterwards. 4x under 54 (+1 at 54.02). Dragila: Clear choice for No. 1. 10x over 15’. 2 WR in one meet. 6x over 15.5.75. Yet she came so close to losing the WC to waif Feofanova, who, IMHO should be in top 10 too. ( 8x over 15' and, as far as I can tell, lost only to Stacy. Lebedeva: Great season with 50'+ at Edmonton and 2'+ win. 5 top marks over 48'7. Lost 3x to Marinova, but beat her decisively at WC and on at least 3 other occasions. Menendez: One of the best Javelin seasons of all time. 6 of top 10 throws. Huge series at WC (2x over 69 metres, 2 at 218', only one throw less than 2d place Tzeliili. WC and WR. Lost only to her Cuban team mates. Kuzenkova: she'll win the ranking race but lost by one inch to Moreno at WC. Had 6 of top 10. Korolchik: lost only once, had 4 of top 10 and was WC by 2'5". My choices: 1. Dragila. 2. Yegorova. 3. Menendez. 4. Jones. 4. Lebedeva. 5. Bidouane. 6. Szekely. 7. Mutola. 8. Korolchik. 9. Feofanova. 10. Kuzenkova. My heart wasn't in this, for obvious reasons (9-11). I completed it 10 days ago and am now just sending it. Phil Wyckoff ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
