The international federation launched a poll on its Facebook page last month giving the sport's fans the chance to vote for the athlete they think topped the charts with their performances in 2012 from a shortlist of 40 archers to claim the annual award.

The contest sees a tight race for the accolade following a series of outstanding performances at last summer's London Olympic and Paralympic Games, with nearly all of the medal matches being decided by the last arrow - some even went into a tiebreak arrow.

However, there can only be one winner and although Erdener would like to be able to award all the athletes that competed at London 2012, he singled out 24-year-old double Paralympic gold medal winner Brown (pictured top) as the standout name on the shortlist.


"The race seems to be going to be very tight," he told insidethegames.

"The athletes of the year are for me all the athletes that participated in the Olympics since they have all contributed to the promotion of the sport.

"It is impossible to choose between the different Olympic and Paralympic champions.

"[But] if I need to give only one name I would say Danielle Brown, the now double Paralympic champion who was the only British archer to deliver what everyone was expecting of her and that is to maintain her Paralympic title.

"She then went on to finish second in the Tokyo World Cup showing once more that archery is a sport with allows people with a disability to compete at the highest level."


Erdener also cites Italy's Michele Frangilli as another name to watch on the shortlist after the three-time Olympic  medallist shot 10 with his last arrow in the men's final to win his first gold as part of the Italian team with Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli.


"The pressure [on Frangilli] was enormous as in the same situation at the European Championships some weeks before he had finished with a six giving the title on a plate to the Dutch," Erdener explained.

"Michele had before this Olympic consecration won all world or continental championship titles but never had won gold after a bronze in Atlanta [1996], a silver in Sydney [2000] and not making the team in Beijing [2008]."

Last year, the public selected 24-year-old American recurve champion Brady Ellison, who ranked number one in the world and won three consecutive World Cup stages – in Poreč, Antalya and Ogden – as well as the 2011 World Cup Final.

Everyone is welcome to place their votes here.

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