KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – World Championships 400-metre relay gold medallist, Novlene Williams-Mills, is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence in Sports.
The 400-metre specialist was chosen from a field of four shortlisted nominees, including: Chess Champion, Warren Elliot; National Netball Player, Sasher-Gaye Henry; and National Football Player, Rodolph Austin.
The athlete, who hails from Gravel Hill, in St Ann, has kept Jamaica’s name at the forefront of international competition with a slew of outstanding performances over a decade.
A four-time national 400-metre champion, Novlene has also tasted success at the highest level in her sport. She is a three-time Olympic 4×400 metres relay bronze medallist in Athens, 2004; Beijing, 2008 and London, 2012.
In 2014, she won her second individual medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, adding to the bronze attained in Melbourne, Australia, in 2006.
Novlene has also won the International Association of Athletics Federations Diamond League title on multiple occasions, including last year, which earned her automatic qualification to the World Championships in Beijing this year.
The Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence was presented to Williams Mills by minister with responsibility for Sport, Natalie Neita Headley, during the awards ceremony, held on Thursday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
All the nominees received special plaques in recognition of outstanding achievements in their respective disciplines.
The Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence is presented to a sportsman or woman who has a history of outstanding achievements; demonstrates a spirit of sporting goodwill and national pride; is a model of sporting endeavour; and displays appropriate deportment and a high level of discipline and integrity within and outside the sports arena.
