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(Sports Focus) Top 10 world athletes in 2015

Xinhua, December 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Following are the top 10 world athletes in the year of 2015 selected by Xinhua: 

   1. Usain Bolt (track and field, Jamaica) 

   Bolt became the first athlete to win three golds at three consecutive world championships after taking the 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles in 2015 Beijing worlds, which made him the most successful athlete in the 32-year history of the athletics world championships.

   2. Stephen Curry (basketball, United States) 

   In 2014-2015 season, Curry led the Warriors to their first NBA championship since 1975. Curry, who averaged 23.8 points and 7.7 assists in the 2014-15 regular season and 28.3 points and 6.4 assists in playoffs, was named the 2015 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). 

   In 2015-16, he helped Golden State set a NBA record of 24 wins to start a season.

   3. Novak Djokovic (tennis, Serbia) 

   Djokovic, who currently ranked No. 1 in the world, claimed three Grand Slams singles titles and six master titles in 2015. He also became the first to win four consecutive end-of-year finals.

   4. Lionel Messi (soccer, Argentina) 

   Messi led Barcelona win five titles in 2015, including the Spanish league, the Copa del Rey, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the World Club Cup. He also guided Argentina to the 2015 Copa America final.

   5. Katie Ledecky (swimming, United States) 

   The 18-year-old Ledecky won five gold medals and broke three world records at the 2015 World Championships. Ledecky is the first swimmer to win the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyles in a major competition and was also named the female swimmer of the meet.

   6. Lewis Hamilton (F1, Britain)

   Hamilton won his third F1 world championship after taking 10 Grand Prix titles and 6 runners-up this season.

   7. Serena Williams (tennis, United States) 

   Williams, who turned 34 in September, claimed three Grand Slams singles titles in 2015, and became the oldest woman to win a major title in the Open era after her victory at Wimbledon.

   She won 53 out of 56 games in 2015 and finished the year ranked world no. 1 for the fifth time in her career. Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year for the seventh time.

   8. Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer, Portugal) 

   Ronaldo won the 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or in January, 2015 and crowned the best player in the world by FIFA for the third time.

   He also became the top scorer with 48 goals in La Liga of 2014-2015 season and the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League with 10 goals. 

   Besides, he scored five goals in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, and became the competition's joint all-time leading goal scorer (including qualifying) with 26 goals.

   9. Genzebe Dibaba (track and field, Ethiopia) 

   Dibaba was named Sportswoman of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards in April. In July, Genzebe broke the 1,500m world record, which had been tipped as unbreakable, in a time of 3:50:07.

   At the World Championships in Beijing, she claimed the 1,500m gold. Dibaba was named female IAAF World Athlete of the Year for 2015 in November.

   10. Marcel Hirscher (skiing, Austria)

   Hirscher became the first male Alpine skier to win the overall World Cup title four times in a row in 2015.  Endi