Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Campbell

WORLD 100m champion Veronica Campbell, world 100m record holder, Asafa Powell and World Championships silver medallist Maurice Smith head the list of nominees for the 2007 RJR Group Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards.

The nominees were announced at a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel yesterday, where seven men and as many women were named as contenders for the lucrative titles.

Other candidates

( L - R ) Powell, Smith

The other male candidates are Danny McFarlane, who finished fifth at the World Championships in Osaka; West Indies players Chri-stopher Gayle and Darren Powell; World Championships 200m silver medallist Usain Bolt, and shot-putter Dorian Scott, who broke the national record twice last year.

The other female candidates are Caribbean women's squash champion Karen Anderson, Sherri-Ann Brooks and Delloreen Ennis-London, who won the 100m and 100m hurdles gold at the Pan Am Games, Nickeisha Wilson, a fourth place finisher in Osaka and second at the Pan Am Games, Tashana Vincent, who was Jamaica's leading goalscorer at the Caribbean women's football tournament, and Novelene Williams, who was third in Osaka.

The winners will announced at the awards function on January 29, also at the Pegasus.

Based on the nominees, Campbell, the only global winner last year, is the strong favourite for her second title.

She won the World Championships 100m title in 11.01 and finished second in the 200m in a season best 22.34, then helped Jamaica to a close second in the women's sprint relay.

On the men's side, it appears a two-man race between Powell and Smith.

Powell finished third to claim bronze at the World Championships in August, but returned two weeks later to smash his own world 100m record of 9.77 by running a stunning 9.74 seconds in Reiti, Italy.

National record

He was also instrumental in Jamaica sprint relay team's silver-medal placing at the World Championships, after collecting the baton in fifth. The team blazed to a national record 37.89 seconds behind USA (37.78).

Smith finished the decathlon event in Osaka with a national record 8,644 points, beating his previous best of 8,349, which saw him ending up behind Olympic and world record holder Roman Sebrle of Czech Republic (8,676 points).

Smith, who created history by becoming the first Jamaican to win a medal in this event, had earlier brought success to Jamaica with gold at the Pan American Games after accumulating 8,241 points in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Unlike 2004, when performances at the Olympic Games and World Championships headed the criteria, this time around, Michael Hall said there is a proviso.

He stated: "Any exceptionally brilliant performance, which satisfied all of the conditions for competition stipulated by the world governing body of the sports concern, will be given due consideration."

He also quoted the levels of competitions looked at during the selection process.

Level one: "Achievements or honours earned at the level of any recognised World Championships or the Olympic Games ... or to competitors who have achieved a world record standard in their sport during the review period.

Level two: "Distinguished achievements or honours earned at the Commonwealth Games or Pan American Games level in their particular sports, during the year in review.

Level three: "Distinguished achievements or honours earned at the Central American and Caribbean level in the period under review.

Level four: "Distinguished achievements or honours earned at the local level, in their sport under the review period."

Hall said data was collected throughout the year and selection committee members, Mike Fennell, Ed Barnes, Vilma Charlton and Myrtle Weir were assisted with research from the sports department of the RJR Group.