The world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt was again among the top contenders for Time Man of the Year 2009.
The sprint king of track and field found himself in the company of other influential personalities like Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, who was named Time Man of the Year 2009, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, General Stanley McChrystal and the Chinese Worker, who were all runners up.
Reacting to his selection, Bolt said, “It is indeed an honour to be among the list of other outstanding persons for the TIME Magazine Person of the Year list. I feel proud as a Jamaican athlete to have impacted on the world they way I have, and the accolades say it all,” said Bolt in a statement through his publicist, Carole Beckford.
Bolt set sprint world records of 9.69 seconds in the 100 meters and 19.3 seconds in the 200 meters at the 2009 Beijing Olympics. Lighting Bolt lowered those marks to 9.58 seconds (100 meters) and 19.19 (200 meters) at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany earlier this year.
Time Managing Editor, Rick Stengel, in explaining why Benanke got the 2009 Person of the Year, said that he was the symbol of all that has gone on with the U.S. economy. He added, Bernanke has been the prime mover of this year’s events. Selection he said is based on the person or thing that has been most influential for good or ill.
