Olympic hopefuls clean up at end of year sports awards ceremony
Weightlifter Mart Seim, 25, has been named best male athlete while wrestler Epp Mäe, 23, won the female athlete of the year award. Kelly Sildaru, 13, and Anett Kontaveit, 20, also got a nod.
Seim won a bronze medal in the +105 kilogram clean & jerk category at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships, but that medal was turned into silver as the winner tested positive for using illegal substances. Seim was favored by sporting organizations, the public and journalists alike. Wrestler Heiki Nabi, discus thrower Gerd Kanter and footballer Ragnar Klavan followed.
Seim's farther, Alar Seim, was named coach of the year.
Mäe won a bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships this year in the under 75 kilogram category. She beat tennis player Kontaveit, fencer Erika Kirpu and Sildaru to the award. Sildaru claimed her career best win in mid-December, when beating a number of world top athletes at the Dew Tour's freeski slopestyle final in the United States. Sildaru was the public's choice for the female athlete of the year award.
The awards are given out based on a vote by the public, sporting organizations and journalists with all making up a third of the final points.
Editor: J.M. Laats