SO GOOD they invented an award for her. Kelly Holmes’s 800 metres victory at the Olympic Games in Athens last month was named the best performance of the year by a woman athlete after the IAAF took the decision that both she and Hicham El Guerrouj should receive special recognition for their Olympic doubles.

Anticipating that Yelena Isinbayeva, the Olympic women’s pole vault champion from Russia, and Kenenisa Bekele, the Olympic men’s 10,000 metres gold medal-winner, from Ethiopia, would be voted world athletes of the year by its five-member panel, the world governing body created a new category. El Guerrouj’s 1,500 metres victory for Morocco in Athens was named the best performance by a man.

The IAAF brushed aside the argument that the women’s pole vault is an underdeveloped event, one that has had world-record recognition for only 12 years and was not added to the international championship schedule until 1996. It took the view that Isinbayeva’s success throughout the year was more meritorious than Holmes’s burst of brilliance.

Isinbayeva has set eight world records this year, including one at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest and another at the Olympics. Like Holmes, who won the 1,500 metres on Saturday, Isinbayeva also succeeded here — her victory coming yesterday — at the two-day World Athletics Final, the IAAF’s flagship end to the season.

Holmes, who won the 800 and 1,500 metres in Athens, was not the only Briton on stage at the gala awards evening at Grimaldi Forum here last night. A lifetime achievement award was presented to Sir Roger Bannister 50 years after he ran the first sub-four-minute mile.

Bekele was named male athlete of the year after recording his third world cross-country double, breaking the 5,000 and 10,000 metres world records, and winning the Olympic 10,000 metres. Thus El Guerrouj, despite winning his first Olympic gold medals, in the 1,500 and 5,000 metres, was denied a fourth successive athlete-of-the-year triumph.

Holmes opted out of the 800 metres yesterday, saying that she was tired. No other Briton, over the two days, could manage a top-three place. The best of the bunch were Abi Oyepitan, fourth in the women’s 200 metres on Saturday, and Jo Pavey, fourth in the women’s 3,000 metres yesterday.

Great Britain’s men sank without trace. Michael East finished seventh in the 1,500 metres after leading for the first three laps. Chris Rawlinson failed to redeem himself for his failure to reach the final of the 400 metres hurdles in Athens, placing eighth and last in 51.14sec. But what did he expect after a week in La Manga contesting BBC Superstars? Neither Chris Tomlinson, in the men’s long jump, nor Carl Myserscough, in the men’s shot, fared much better, both finishing sixth.

Asafa Powell, from Jamaica, recorded the only World Athletics Final double, taking the 100 metres in 9.98sec and the 200 metres in 20.06sec.