Topping off a stellar year, South Florida-based Jamaican swimmer Alia Atkinson has been nominated for the 2015 Caribbean Sportswoman of the Year award from the Caribbean Sports Journalists’ Association (CASJA).
The first ever black woman to hold a swimming world record was recognized for her arguably best performance year yet. This year, she became the first Jamaican swimmer to win a medal at a long course world championship games, when she won silver in the 50m breaststroke and bronze in the 100m breaststroke at the FINA World Championships in Russia. She also broke Jamaica’s long course record in the 100m breaststroke and won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the Swimming World Cup in Dubai.
Atkinson faced tough competition however from an excellent selection of Caribbean women athletes. The other nominees include fellow Jamaicans such as track star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, cricketer Stefanie Taylor and sprinter Danielle Williams. The other nominees are Cuban pole vaulter Yarisley Silva and discus thrower Denia Caballero, Barbadian heptathlon and high jump star Akela Jones, sprinter Shaunae Miller of The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago’s track and field stars Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Michelle Lee Ahye and Cleopatra Borel.
A regional panel of six comprising of sports journalists, commentators and administrators determined the winner from the list chosen by sports journalists in the Caribbean. They are Tonique Williams-Darling, Shaka Hislop, Vernon Springer, Terry Finisterre, Ato Boldon and Kayon Raynor.
