The online poll for the 2005 edition of the Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy has been launched at the European Athletics Calendar Conference currently taking place in Reykjavik, Iceland. The European Athlete of the Year award was introduced by the EAA in 1993 and this year is the 13th time the trophy will be awarded.

Voting takes place on www.european-athletics.org until 31 December from a shortlist of 22 men and 22 women. Among the athletes on the shortlist are 18 world champions, three world record breakers and 18 leaders of the IAAF world rankings for their event.

The winners of the Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy will be decided by votes from EAA member federations, the media and the general public, with the results from each group of voters counting for one third of the athlete's final score.

Each voter will have to select their five preferred athletes and rank them in priority order.

Members of the public who vote be automatically entered into a prediction competition. Entrants who have voted for the top three male and female athletes in the correct order in the poll will be entered into a draw to win an expense paid trip to the European Athletics Indoor Cup in Liévin, France, on Sunday 5 March 2006. The second name out the hat will win a PictureMate printer donated by the EAA's Technical Partner EPSON and there will be some additional runners-up prizes.

Last year triple jumper Christian Olsson (SWE) won the men's Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy for the second year running and double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes was the women's winner, but there will certainly be a new names on the trophies this year as the 2005 seasons of both athletes have been ruined by injury. Olsson and fellow triple jumper Jonathan Edwards (GBR) are the only two athletes, male or female, to have won the award twice.

The athletes on the shortlist for the Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2005 are:

MEN
Virgilijus ALEKNA (LTU)
Ralf BARTELS (GER)
Tim BENJAMIN (GBR)
Rens BLOM (NED)
Yuriy BORZAKOVSKIY (RUS)
Vadim DEVYATOVSKIY (BLR)
Ladji DOUCOURE (FRA)
Francisco Javier FERNANDEZ (ESP)
Ivan HESHKO (UKR)
Stefan HOLM (SWE)
Gerd KANTER (EST)
Sergey KIRDYAPKIN (RUS)
Yuriy KRIMARENKO (UKR)
Marian OPREA (ROM)
Tero PITKÄMÄKI (FIN)
Ronald POGNON (FRA)
Roman SEBRLE (CZE)
Rutger SMITH (NED)
Andreas THORKILDSEN (NOR)
Ivan TIKHON (BLR)
Andrus VÄRNIK (EST)
Simon VROEMEN (NED)

WOMEN
Tatyana ANDRIANOVA (RUS)
Christine ARRON (FRA)
Eunice BARBER (FRA)
Kajsa BERGQVIST (SWE)
Franka DIETZSCH (GER)
Constantina DITA-TOMESCU (ROM)
Yelena ISINBAYEVA (RUS)
Olimpiada IVANOVA (RUS)
Tatyana KOTOVA (RUS)
Carolina KLÜFT (SWE)
Olga KUZENKOVA (RUS)
Tatyana LEBEDEVA (RUS)
Tatyana LYSENKO (RUS)
Steffi NERIUS (GER)
Christina OBERGFÖLL (GER)
Nadezhda OSTAPCHUK (BLR)
Yuliya PECHONKINA (RUS)
Paula RADCLIFFE (GBR)
Anna ROGOWSKA (POL)
Tatyana TOMASHOVA (RUS) Ryta TURAVA (BLR)
Yekaterina VOLKOVA (RUS)