The ceremony of "Athena" was founded in 2004 on the initiative of Olympic bronze medalist in the triple jump Elena Govorova. The aim of the ex-athlete was to unite friends of athletics, to make a holiday for her former colleagues, and to raise the prestige of the "Queen of Sports" in the country.
And the goal was achieved. On February 1, 2011 in the spacious hall of exhibition center "ACCO International" for the sixth time in a row Ukraine learned the names of the best.
The female athlete of the year became triple jumper Olga Saladukha, who after the birth of the child returned to the sport and on the European Championship 2010 took “gold”. The male athlete of the year – Sergey Lebed, who in the 9th time had won "gold" at the XVII European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, today he is the most highly awarded European in this kind of sport.
In the "Sensation of the Year" award was given to women's national team of Ukraine in the relay 4 x 100 meters at the European Championships.
Vladimir Fedorets, coach of one of the race triumpher Elizavetha Bryzgina, became the "best coach" of the year. "The beauty of athletics" was named Anna Mishchenko from Kharkov, who had won the race at 1,500 meters in July 2010 in Tanger (Morocco).
Especially for the "Athena 2010" arrived the famous Russian actor Alexei Maklakov (legendary officer Nikolai Shmatko from the TV series "Soldiers").Together with the Ukrainian national artist Nina Matvienko he named the best coach of the year and pleased the public with the song performed by his own.
An invariable host of the evening was the main ceremony inspirer Elena Govorova. Popular TV presenter Caroline Ashion and super blond Olya Polyakova helped her.