University of Tennessee Athletics
Voting Open for Jesse Owens Award, VFLs Coleman & Gatlin On Ballot
November 08, 2017 | Track & Field
The Jesse Owens Award and Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award are USATF's highest accolades, presented annually since 1981 to the most outstanding U.S. male and female athletes
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tennessee track VFLs Christian Coleman and Justin Gatlin are nominees for the 2017 Jesse Owens Award. Voting for the Jesse Owens Award and the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award is now open for fans. USA Track & Field (USATF) will present both awards at the 2017 Jesse Owens Awards Banquet Saturday, Dec. 2, at its Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
Fans can vote for their favorites via this online form, also found on Instagram and Facebook, now thru Monday, Nov. 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The Jesse Owens Award and Jackie Joyner-Kersee Award are USATF's highest accolades, presented annually since 1981 to the most outstanding U.S. male and female athletes. Winners are selected by a vote of the media in combination with online fan balloting, with media votes weighing 90 percent of the vote and fan voting 10 percent.
Coleman, who is also a finalist for The 2017 Bowerman Award and the 2017 IAAF Rising Star Award, earned silver in the men's 100 meters and the men's 4x100 in August at the London 2017 IAAF World Championships. Coleman is also just the second person to win the USTFCCCA National Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and USTFCCCA National Indoor Track Athlete of the Year awards in the same season since the Bowerman Award was introduced in 2009. The other person to sweep the awards, Galen Rupp, also won the Bowerman in 2009. Coleman became just the second person in NCAA history to win four sprint national championships in one year as he won the 60 meters and 200 meters during the indoor season and the 100 meters and 200 meters during the outdoor season. Gatlin, who accomplished the feat in 2002, is the only other person to complete the sprint double-double. In 2017, Coleman ran eight sub-10 times in the 100 meters, including a NCAA-record 9.82. He clocked a 19.85 in the 200 meters in the NCAA East first round.
Gatlin previously won the Jesse Owens Award in 2004 and 2005. He and Michael Johnson (1994, 1995, 1996) are the only men to win the award in back-to-back years. In June, Gatlin won the men's 100 meters at USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 9.95, just edging Coleman (9.98). On Aug. 5, Gatlin defeated the great Usain Bolt and Coleman to win gold in the men's 100m final (9.92) of the London 2017 IAAF World Championships. Gatlin and Coleman teamed up in men's 4x100 and took silver on Aug. 12. He ran four wind-legal, sub-10 times in the 100 meters in 2017. Last month, Gatlin was inducted into the Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame.
Players Mentioned
