Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

The curtain came down on an absolutely delightful, riveting and historic 2008 on Friday night as two women, Olympic 200 metres gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown and winner of the 400m-hurdles gold Melaine Walker, were named joint winners of the 48th RJR Sports Foundation's 2008 Sportswoman of the Year award.

Walker, a past student of St Jago High School, won the 400m hurdles gold in an Olympic record time of 52.64 seconds.

"I feel real good today. I am happy and I am grateful because God gave me life," Walker said after collecting her award. "I went to the Olympics and I gave it my best and I came out being the Sportswoman of the Year, tying with Veronica Campbell-Brown, who is also a superb athlete. So, I can't complain."

A five-time Olympic medallist Campbell-Brown is the reigning Olympic 200m and world 100m champion. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she won the 200m in 21.74 seconds, the seventh-fastest time ever, and became the second woman in history to win the Olympic 200m twice and successfully defend her title, after Barbel Eckert-Wockel of Germany did so at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.

"We all knew that the award would be very close. So, I just appreciate being recognised. It is an honour and it's very good when you are recognised for the hard work that you put in," Campbell-Brown said.

Walker and Campbell-Brown won ahead of fellow track athletes Shericka Williams, Sherone Simpson, Kerron Stewart, Shelly-Ann Fraser and cricketer Stafanie Taylor.

Tight selection process

New chairman of the RJR Sports Foundation, Chris Dehring, in an interview with The Gleaner after the ceremony, disclosed that it was an incredible selection process.

"It was just too close to call," Dehring said. "The debating took place over a number of weeks and the selection committee worked very hard to come up with the winner. At the end of the day, they reached a consensus that it was simply a tie. "

As expected, triple Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt was rewarded for his brilliant and exhilarating performance in Beijing, taking home the Sportsman of the Year award.

Cricketer Jerome Taylor, who took 24 wickets in six Test matches at an average of 29.79 and scored a century - 106 off 107 balls against New Zealand - was the runner-up to the Sportsman of the Year.

Bolt, winner of the 100m (9.69), 200m (19.30) and member of Jamaica's 4x100m gold-medal team (37.10), all in world record times, won ahead of Taylor, footballer Luton Shelton, former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell and West Indies captain Chris Gayle.

Shelly-Ann Fraser, the country's first gold medal winner in the women's 100m event won the People's Choice Performance Award for her 10.78 seconds Olympic effort ahead of Taylor and footballers Ricardo Fuller and Daemon Benjamin.

Dehring also presented the Chairman's Award to former West Indies captain and technical director of the Jamaica Cricket Association, Jimmy Adams for his outstanding contribution to cricket.