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Xinhua select Top 10 world athletes in 2005
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-03 09:27 The following were the top 10 world athletes in
2005, as selected by Xinhua News Agency:
1. Roger Federer (Switzerland)
Top-ranking male tennis player in the world, ending the 2005 season with 11
singles titles including two Grand Slam trophies, a 35-match winning streak, and
a win-loss record of 81-4, the second-best match winning percentage in a year in
the Open era.
2. Zhang Yining (China)
Zhang
Yining | Top-ranking female player in the world and the new generation of China’s
table tennis, another Grand Slam winner of world championships, Olympics and
World Cup.
3. Fernando Alonso (Spain)
Formula One’s youngest champion at the age of 24, ending seven-time winner
Michael Schumacher’s string of five straight season titles.
4. Liu Xiang (China)
Winner of the Alternative Sportsperson of the Year at the 2005 Laureus World
Sports Awards, adding a 110-meter hurdles silver medal at the Helsinki world
championships to his history-making Olympic title at the Athens Olympic Games.
5. Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia)
The Female Athlete of the Year named by the IAAF for the second time running,
setting nine world records indoor and out while recording the first women’s
5-meter vault in London and breaking the mark again after winning the world
title in Helsinki.
6. Ronaldinho (Brazil)
Biggest winner in world soccer in 2005, completing a hat trick of three most
important awards, winning his second successive World Player of the Year award
from soccer’s governing body FIFA.
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