Talakhadze received 9,804 of the 23,301 votes cast in the men's category to become the first Georgian to win the award.

It comes on the back of a year which saw the reigning Olympic champion break the men's over 105 kilograms snatch and overall world records on his way to claiming a hat-trick of gold medals at the 2017 IWF World Championships in Anaheim in the United States.

His nearest challenger was Egypt's Ihab Mahmoud, who garnered 8,491 votes in the battle for the prize that has been handed out annually since 1982.

Iran's Sohrab Moradi, who broke the men's 94kg clean and jerk and overall world records en-route to winning three gold medals at the 2017 IWF World Championships, finished third with 3,142 votes.

Chile's Arley Mendez came fourth with 1,148 votes, while Colombia's Francisco Mosquera Valencia ended up fifth with 716.

Valentín is the first Spaniard to receive the women’s award, which has been awarded annually since 1991.

She won by a huge margin having received 16,406 of the 23,301 votes.

The three-time European champion became a global champion for the first time at the 2017 IWF World Championships, comfortably winning all three gold medals in the women’s 75kg category.

It added to her haul of three Olympic medals, which is made up of one gold, one silver and one bronze.

Valentín was followed in the final standings by Chinese Taipei's Kuo Hsing-Chun, who in 2017 was crowned the 58kg world champion and broke the clean and jerk world record at the Summer Universiade in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, with 2,917 votes.

The US' Sarah Robles, the over-90kg world champion, finished in third place with 1,606 votes.

Thailand’s Sopita Tanasan came fourth with 1,192 votes, while India’s Chanu Saikhon Mirabai ended up fifth with 1,180.

All athletes nominated for the prestigious titles are world champions.