Sprint champion Usain Bolt is among three Jamaicans shortlisted for the 2012 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award.

The back-to-back Olympic double sprint champion and world record holder is now on course to become the first man to win the prestigious award on four occasions.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Yohan Blake are the other Jamaicans among the 20 male and female candidates named by the IAAF.

Pryce successfully defended her 100m title at the London Olympics and finished second in the 200m.

Blake is a double Olympic silver medallist and a recipient of last year's Performance of the Year award.

Selected members of the international press and officials from the IAAF will help to choose three male and female finalists from the shortlist.

However, the Council of the International Athletics Foundation makes the final selection of male and female Athlete of the Year at a special ceremony in Barcelona, Spain, during the IAAF's centenary celebrations on November 24.

Bolt, who won the award in 2008, 2009 and again last year, was again in dominant form this season, winning the 100m and 200m titles at the London Olympics with times of 9.63 and 19.32, respectively.

He also won the 100m title on the lucrative Diamond League circuit and anchored Jamaica to a world record in the Olympic Games 4x100m relay.

Bolt and Moroccan great Hicham El Guerrouj are the only athletes to have won the award on three occasions.

Fraser-Pryce repeated her Beijing 2008 exploits in London, winning the 100m title, while finishing with silver medals in the 200m and 4x100m. She also won the 100m event in the Diamond League to wrap up another successful year.

Blake, who was recognised for his 19.26 200m run in Brussels at last year's awards ceremony in Monaco, claimed silver in the 100m and 200m in London and was also a part of Jamaica's record-breaking 4x100m team.

Grenada's world and Olympic 400m champion Kirani James is also among the athletes shortlisted for the 2012 World Athlete of the Year Award.

James won Grenada's first Olympic medal in London this summer, claiming the men's 400m title in 43.94 seconds—the fastest time for the year. —CMC