PARIS, France (AFP): Jamaican prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller won the world trophy of the 2007 IOC Women and Sport Awards at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday.
 |
| Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller (2nd right), with the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) 2007 World Trophy for Women and Sport, which was presented to her at a ceremony in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, by President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge (right). With the Prime Minister are (from left) continental trophy awardees, Fridah Bilha Shiroya for Africa, and athletics legend, Jackie Joyner-Kersee for the Americas. |
Miller, elected Jamaica's prime minister in March 2006, was one of six winners announced by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who also honoured women from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
As one of the first world leaders to sign the World Anti-Doping Code, Miller led the way for more and more women to attain important positions on national sports federations.
The award comes as Jamaica is about to jointly host cricket's World Cup in the Caribbean from March 13 to April 28.
Others winners included Fridah Bilha Shiroya, the treasurer of Kenya's National Olympic Committee, the six-time Olympic medallist Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the United States, Naila Shatara-Kharroub who helped establish physical education for girls in Palestine, German Ilse Bechthold, on the IAAF women's committee, and Veitu Apana Diro, vice-president of Papua New Guinea's NOC. |
