KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s squash queen Datuk Nicol David has won The World Games poll, taking the crown for Greatest Athlete of All Time after a last-minute surge yesterday.
She topped the poll with more than 300,000 votes putting her ahead of 23 other athletes.
The World Games said that more than 1.2 million votes were cast.
David finished top with 318,943 (26%) votes from fans, more than double that of her nearest competitor, Irish tug-of-war legend James Kehoe.
Conducted by the International World Games Association (IWGA), voting ran from January 8 and February 1 via The World Games website.
David, the 37-year-old from Penang, is one of the greatest squash players of all time and won a trio of World Games gold medals, among others.
She also had an unprecedented nine-year reign atop the world rankings between 2006 and 2015 and won two Commonwealth Games gold medals, five Asian Games gold medals and five British Open trophies. She retired from competitive squash in 2019.
“It’s a huge honour to be nominated by The World Games for the Greatest Athlete of All Time and to gain so much support from everyone in Malaysia and the squash community,” said David.
“It came as a surprise to see me amongst these other top athletes and I’m grateful for this… hopefully it can elevate the attention for the future of squash and it’s a proud moment to represent my country and Asia.”
IWGA president José Perurena said: “I would like to warmly congratulate Nicol David for the victory in The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time poll. Nicol David is an inspirational athlete, and a fine role model for younger athletes.
“The race was incredible, and it was good to see how athletes, including David, got support not only from their own sport, but also from their country and the highest sports authorities there. Sports really unite people in a special way. This vote was a celebration of that.” – The Vibes, February 1, 2021
