The online poll for the 2005 edition of the Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy is now open on www.european-athletics.org. You can vote at http://www.european-athletics.org/index.php?inhalt=poll/index until 31 December from a shortlist of 22 male and 22 female athletes.  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 athletes final score.  Each voter has to select their five preferred athletes and rank them in priority order. Everyone who votes as a member of the public will be automatically entered into the EAA’s traditional 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 expenses paid trip for two 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. 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)
