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Athletes of the Year
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The WAIS Athlete of the Year award is a major prize awarded by the Institute to one athlete
each year.
The recipient of the award is decided by the WAIS Board and the judging period is from 1
October to 30 September. The award is announced and presented at the WAIS Annual
Dinner held in November each year. There are normally up to eight finalists invited to the
dinner from which the winner is chosen. Achievements from the year normally determine
who is the winner, although sometimes a remarkable achievement is also taken into
consideration, regardless of whether is it is a gold medal.
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| Athletes of the Year |
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| 2006-07 |
| Eamon Sullivan (Swimming) |
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The 22 year old emerged as one of the fastest men in world swimming after walking away with two medals at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne in March.
Eamon won an individual bronze in the 100m Freestyle as well as a relay gold after he anchored the 4x100m Medley Relay team to victory in front of a home crowd.
The World Championship gold was one of a total of seven gold medals the Grant Stoelwinder protégé won at international meets throughout the year, while to cap things off he also broke both the Australian long and short course records in the 50m Freestyle.
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| 2005-06 |
| Paul Burgess (Athletics) |
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In February 2005 Paul became the 11th man in athletics history to clear six metres outdoors. However, injuries forced him to withdraw from the 2005 World Championships while being in the best form of his career.
Paul had a great start to 2006 winning an international event in Donesk, Ukraine, in January and then claimed the
pole vault title at the 2006 Australian Athletic Championships,. A reoccurrence of his leg injuries prevented any high-flying at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Paul led the IAAF World Tour standings going into the World Athletics final held in Stuttgart in September following wins at the IAAF Grand Prix's in Osaka, Japan, Rome, Italy and Mannheim, Germany. Paul won the pole vault competition at the Final becoming the first Australian to win a title at this prestigious event since Cathy Freeman's 400m victory in 1996.
Paul a former world junior pole vault champion in 1996 had never won a major international senior championship until this year. He has arguably now established himself as the most consistent pole-vaulter in the world today with
clearances of over 5.8m at 11 competitions including eight overseas, this season.
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| 2004-05 |
| Peter Robertson (Triathlon) |
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Following a post-Olympic break and a decision to stay in Perth and accept a WAIS individual scholarship, Peter achieved some top results on the national triathlon scene earlier this year. At the Australian Olympic Distance Championships in Geelong in March, Peter finished second by a mere 17 seconds. Seeking revenge, he
clinched the Australian Sprint Championships in St Kilda in April to win the title of national sprint champion.
A broken rib hampered Peter's preparation for world championships selection and it was only a week before the championships that he was included in the team following the withdrawal of another competitor.
In September in Japan, Peter won the ITU World Championship in a sprint finish to claim his third world championship victory, making it five world championship medals out of five starts.
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| 2003-04 |
| Ryan Bayley (Cyling) |
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At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in August, Ryan produced outstanding results, winning gold medals in the Men's Sprint and Men's Keirin events. In doing so, he became the first Australian Cyclist to ever win dual Gold Medals at an Olympic Games.
He also became the first Western Australian to win 2 individual Gold Medals at an Olympic Games and the first in 36 years to win an individual Gold. Bayley was also a member of the Australian Team Sprint threesome that finished a very close fourth at these Games.
On Australia Day 2005, Ryan was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his achievements at the Games.
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| 2002-03 |
| Peter Dawson (Cycling) |
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Peter started the year with a win in the National Criterium Championship in Perth in January. This was followed by a bronze medal at the South African World Cup as a member of the Australian 4000m pursuit team.
During June and July Peter competed in a series of European road races. His results in these events included podium places in several tour stages and a 6th place in the prestigious Firenze-Modena Classic.
In August, at the 2003 World Track Championship, Peter won a gold medal as a member of the Australian Team (4-man team) that set a world rec ord time of 3 min 57.185 sec in the 4000m Teams Pursuit. The Australians lowered their own previous record of 3 min 59.583 sec set at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
In September Peter became one of a small band of cyclists nominated to represent their country at both a Road and Track World Championship in the one year.
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| 2001-02 |
| Peter Dawson (Cycling) |
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| Peter improved his personal best for the Individual Pursuit by 14 seconds in one season to secure a berth in the Australian Pursuit team. He was a member of the 4-man pursuit team that won Gold in the 4000m Teams Pursuit at the Manachester Commonwealth Games, in a world record time of 3 minutes 59.583 seconds. The Australians were only the 2nd team in history to beat the 4-minute barrier. Peter followed this by, again, being a member of the Australian Pursuit team that won the 4000m Teams Pursuit at the 2002 World Championships.
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| 2000-01 |
| Dmitri Markov (Athletics) |
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The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 2000/01 was Dmitri Markov. Dmitri became one of only three Australians and the first Western Australian, to win a World Championship in Athletics when he won the Pole Vault in Edmonton Canada. His winning height of 6.05 metres set new Commonwealth and Australian records and ranks him as the equal second highest vaulter of all time.
Dmitri narrowly beat World Keirin cycling champion, Ryan Bayley, for the Award.
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| 1999-00 |
| Belinda Stowell (Sailing) |
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In a year in which Olympic champions abounded, yachtswoman, Belinda Stowell, claimed the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1999/ 2000. Belinda s stand-out performance was her convincing win, with her partner Jenny Armstrong, in the 470 class of the Olympic sailing competition. This performance was well supported by her
victories in the national championships, the European Championships and a silver medal in the World Championships.
Belinda won the award from two other Olympic gold medallists, water polo captain, Bridgette Gusterson and hockey champion, Rechelle Hawkes.
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| 1998-99 |
| Stuart Reside (Rowing) |
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Success at the national and international level earned rower, Stuart Reside, the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1998/99. Reside stroked the WA squad scull and the Kings Cup crews to victory at the national and interstate Regattas. He was then a member of the National quad scull that won a bronze medal at the World Championships and a gold medal at the Commonwealth Regatta in Canada.
He won the Award from slalom canoeist, Robin Bell, whose World Championship silver medal was an outstanding achievement and women s national water polo c aptain, Bridgette Gusterson.
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| 1997-98 |
| Rechelle Hawkes (Hockey) |
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Dual Olympic hockey gold medallist, Rechelle Hawkes, won her second Athlete of the Year Award for 1997/98 following another outstanding year with the national team. Rechelle led the Australian team to its second successive World Cup title and she then captained the team to its Commonwealth Games gold medal. She is clearly one of the best athletes developed in Western Australia.
She won the award from cycling world champion, Lucy Tyler-Sharman, swimmer, Julia Greville and her Hockeyroo teammate, Kate Starre.
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| 1996-97 |
| Darryn Hill (Cycling) |
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Former World Sprint Champion, Darryn Hill, became the first athlete to win the Athlete of the Year Award for a second time. Hill's bronze medal in the Sprint at the World Championships held in Perth and two victories in World Cup events secured the Award.
Hill won the Award from a high-class field that included national hockey captain, Rechelle Hawkes, World Short Course swimming gold medallist, Bill Kirby and rowers Amber Bradley and Stuart Reside.
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| 1995-96 |
| Darryn Hill (Cycling) |
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In a year of outstanding achievements by WAIS athletes, it took two World Championship Cycling gold medals to snare the Athlete of the Year Award for 1995/96 for Darryn Hill. Hill won the World Sprint title in 1995 and shared the Olympic Sprint (3-man team) title at the 1996 World Championships during the judging period.
Hill won the award narrowly from the 1994/95 winner Rechelle Hawkes and fellow cyclist, Lucy Tyler-Sharman.
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| 1994-95 |
| Rechelle Hawkes (Hockey) |
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A World Cup gold medal and sustained excellence as captain of the Australian and West Australian hockey teams, earned Rechelle Hawkes the title of the WAIS Athlete of the Year for 1994/95.
Hawkes defeated an outstanding field that included world cycling silver medallist, Darryn Hill and Commonwealth high jump champion, Alison Inverarity.
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| 1993-94 |
| Richard Nizielski (Ice Speed Skating) |
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| A historic Winter Olympic medal clinched the prestigious Athlete of the Year Award for 1993/94 for speedskater, Richard Nizielski. Nizielski added a World Championship silver medal in the 5000 metres relay to the Olympic bronze medal he won in the same event to cap an outstanding year.
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| 1992-93 |
| Ramon Andersson (Canoeing) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1992/93 was Olympic Kayak bronze medallist, Ramon Andersson. During the judging period Ramon also won the World Marathon K2 title and shared in three national titles.
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| 1991-92 |
| Sharon Buchanan (Hockey) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1991/92 was Olympic hockey captain, Sharon Buchanan. Sharon led Australia to victory in the 1992 Champions Trophy Tournament. At the conclusion of the Tournament, she was named player of the series.
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| 1990-91 |
| Robyn Lambourne (Squash) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1990/91 was Squash player Robyn Lambourne. Robyn continued her march towards the world number one position. She won the three major Canadian tournaments, including the Canadian Open and reached the semi finals in the Australian and British Opens and the World Championship. She attained world ranking of 2, the highest international rank of any WAIS athlete for this year.
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| 1989-90 |
| Ian Brown (Swimming) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1989/90 was swimmer Ian Brown. Swimmers provided eight of WAISs 14 Commonwealth Games medals and Browns performance in winning the 400 metres freestyle catapulted him into the top six in the world. He also won gold in the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay and silver in the 200 metres freestyle events.
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| 1988-89 |
| Craig Davies (Hockey) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1988/89 was Olympic hockey captain, Craig Davies. Craig became the third successive Western Australian to captain his country for the Olympic Games. Craig captained the team to a third place at the World Cup, leading the team with skill, determination and courage.
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| 1987-88 |
| Craig Parry (Golf) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1987/88 was golfer Craig Parry. In 1987 Parry won the NSW State open and lost the Australian Masters in a sudden death play-off. In the first half of 1988 he was prominent on the Japanese tour and was runner up in the Italian Open to Greg Norman.
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| 1986-87 |
| Christine Stanton (Athletics) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1986/87 was Christine Stanton. Christine was WAs sole selection in Australias team for the 1987 World Championships. She earned that selection by winning her 8th Australian Open high jump title.
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| 1985-86 |
| Robert Waller (Cycling) |
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| The winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year Award for 1985/86 was cyclist Robert Waller. Robert won the World Junior Individual Points Score title in July and the silver medal in the Individual Pursuit events. Glandular fever reduc ed Waller s season to a few outings and aborted his proposed European tour and Commonwealth Games bid. |
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| 1984-85 |
| Jenny Byrne (Tennis) |
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| The inaugural winner of the WAIS Athlete of the Year award was 17 year old tennis play Jenny Byrne. Jenny topped the Australian Satellite Points table, won her first round in the Australian Open, won the WA Open, and was a quarter-finalist in the Junior Girls singles in the French Championships. The highlights of her year were at Wimbledon where she reached the third round of the women s singles and was runner-up in the junior girl s singles. |
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