PETALING JAYA: Former world champion squash player Datuk Nicol David has been anointed as the World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time.
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The 37-year-old Penangite claimed the honour after obtaining the most number of votes in the final round of 10 athletes after the world-wide poll closed at 9pm Malaysian time.
Nicol, the only Asian athlete shortlisted for the award, picked up a massive 318,945 votes.
Tug of war athlete James Kehoe of Ireland notched 113,120 votes while powerlifter Larysa Soloviova of Ukraine garnered 80,790 votes.
Nicol led the field when the second and final phase of voting which started on Jan 21, where only the top 10 candidates – who keep all of their votes thus far – remained in the process.
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Altogether, 23 past and present athletes representing various sports from all editions of the World Games’ 40-year history were selected for the worldwide poll.
All in all, 1,204,637 votes were cast during the poll.
Nicol called time on her illustrious career in 2019 after winning eight world titles between 2005 to 2014.
She spent an unprecedented nine years at the pinnacle of the women’s squash world rankings between 2006 and 2015, as well as winning 81 professional titles.- The Star