INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana: Beijing Olympic champions Bryan Clay and Stephanie Brown Trafton were named on Tuesday as winners of the Jesse Owens Award given annually by USA Track and Field to top performers.

Clay won the Olympic men's decathlon crown, a bright spot in the worst US men's gold medal showing in Olympic track history, while Brown Trafton was the first US woman to win Olympic discus gold since Lillian Copeland in 1932. "Their focus and determination, and their unwillingness to settle for anything less than gold, epitomise the best qualities we can hope for in our athletes," USA Track and Field chief executive officer Doug Logan said.

The award, named for the US hero of the 1936 Olympics, will be presented to each winner on December 6 at USA Track and Field's meeting in Reno, Nevada. "I've always regarded Jesse Owens with the highest respect," Clay said. "To be selected to receive this award and having my name associated with the legendary Jesse Owens is a great honor and a humbling experience."

Clay, this year's world indoor heptathlon champion, won the Olympic trials decathlon with 8,832 points, the best American result in 16 years and best in the world in four years. Clay took Beijing gold with 8.791 points, his 240-point Olympic victory margin the largest in the event since 1972.

Brown Trafton, third at the US Olympic trials and never a US champion, won with an opening effort of 64.74 meters to take the first US medal in the event since a silver by Leslie Jean Deniz at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.