by Larry EderA very busy day in Monaco, with some happy people and some unhappy people. Such are events where championships are chosen: there are winners and losers.
Four events decided: Doha, Ostrava, Kampala, Nairobi
MONACO (MON): During the first of three days the IAAF Council, chaired by President Lamine Diack decided about four events for future years. 2019 World Championships will be in Doha, 2018 Continental Cup in Ostrava, 2017 World Cross Country in Kampala and 2017 World Youth Championships in Nairobi.
MONACO (MON): Doha has been awarded the rights to host the 2019 IAAF World Championships. The Qatari city was announced as the chosen city by IAAF President Lamine Diack at the Fairmount Hotel in Monaco after a vote by the IAAF Council. Doha led the first round of voting with 12 votes, over Eugene’s 9 and Barcelona’s 6. Then in the final round, Doha triumphed with 15 votes to Eugene’s 12. President Diack was impressed by the strength of the three presentations, saying that they were the “best presentations we have ever had.” Doha bid leader, Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that he was “very delighted” with the result and expressed his confidence that they could host “one of the best World Championships.” The 17th IAAF World Championships will be held in Doha fromSeptember 28 to October 6.
MONACO (MON): The 2019 World Championships in Doha will be the first IAAF World Championships to be held as late in a year as October, inform T&FN. The 2019 event is scheduled to finish on October 6, one month later than the global athletics championship has ever finished before; the 1987 World Championships in Rome finished onSeptember 6. Only 4 of the 14 World Championships that have taken place have had events in September. Both Beijing 2015 and London 2017 will be held entirely in August.
MONACO (MON): TrackTown USA President Vin Lananna released a statement after his bid to host the 2019 World Championships finished a close runner-up behind Doha. “We would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to Doha and our sincere thanks to the IAAF. It’s important to dream big and have ambitious goals. We made a bold attempt with an audacious vision for this event and we will continue to partner with USA Track & Field in attracting other major events to the U.S. I have no doubt that the U.S. will field another fantastic track and field team in the summer of 2019, and we look forward to welcoming the world to Portland in the spring of 2016.”
MONACO (MON): Two Qatari athletes were part of Doha’s presentation team, World Indoor high jump champion Mutaz Essa Barshim and young female hurdler Mariam Farid. Both spoke of the inspiration that the youth of the Middle East would garner from the event being held in Doha. During the presentation in front of the IAAF Council, Barshim said, “I want to jump in Doha in 2019. I want to inspire a new generation.” He went on to ask the IAAF officials, “Are you willing to expand the sport we love? Are you willing to inspire the younger generation?” Eugene also had athletes as a central part of their final bid presentation, with Olympic 200m champion Allyson Felix and World mile and 1500m record holder Hicham El Guerrouj both speaking in front of the IAAF Council. World and Olympic decathlon champion Ashton Eaton also featured in their video presentation.
MONACO (MON): Spanish and other media informed about critical words of the President of the Spanish federation RFEA and IAAF Council member Jose Maria Odriozola. He was quoted as saying beeing very disappointed, with the result. “I think it’s a bad move for the world athletics,” said Odriozola beeing confident that Barcelona has top chances.
MONACO (MON): After succesful presentation the IAAF Council decided to award the right to stage the 3rd IAAF Continental Cup in 2018 to Ostrava. The dates are not yet fixed, but it is expected to be held in early September. „I can guarantee the full support of the Czech Government and Czech Republic,” said Minister for Education, Youth and Sports Marcel Chladek. Deputy Mayor of Ostrava Lumir Palyza assured the IAAF Council Members about the City Stadium reconstruction which is currently going on. „We are spending more than 20 millions of dollars on that currently, our stadium will be a modern top athletics facility with capacity of 15 000 spectators,” he said. President of Czech Athletics Federation Libor Varhanik mentioned the willingness to prepare a special edition of the event with a good team which has a lot of experience while preparing the traditional Golden Spike Meeting. Special member of the delegation was legendary hurdler Felix Sanchez of Dominican Republic. „Ostrava has great environment for the athletes with hotel so close to warm up track and the main stadium. We as athletes like that not to think about shuttle transport when you need to go to the stadium,” says Sanchez. Representing the Ostrava youngsters was junior long jumper Veronika Sadkova who was Donetsk World Youth Finalist in 2013.
MONACO (MON): Kampala have been chosen as the host of the 2017 World Cross Country while Nairobi were approved as the hosts of the 2017 World Youth Championships, inform IAAF. The Ugandan capital won the right to stage the cross country competition after winning a vote against the capital of Bahrain, Manama. The competition will return to Africa a decade after it was held in Mombasa, Kenya. Ten year’s after hosting that event, Kenya will host the second World Youth championships to be held on African soil, after Marrakech 2005. They were the only candidate bidding to host the championships.
