PARIS, 20 August 2003 — A draft plan for the development of the premier sport of the Olympic Games will be presented to a two-day congress of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) opening today.
With track and field struggling to maintain its place in a competitive market place, IAAF President Lamine Diack will table a ‘World Athletics Plan’ to the congress, which is meeting before the start of the World Championships on Saturday.
The document has been prepared by a Lausanne-based sports management body called TSE, which has consulted people at all levels of the sport. Although around 200 member federations are expected to field teams in Paris, the world governing body is increasingly concerned that athletics has become effectively European based.
Six of the past eight World Championships have been staged in Europe with Paris hosting the ninth and initial host Helsinki scheduled to stage the 2005 edition. Athletics attracts only minimal attention in the United States outside Olympic years and the world’s leading track and field nation has yet to host a World Championships.
Some of the issues to be addressed are the difficulties in keeping children interested in athletics and integrating highly successful road races such as the London marathon into the sport’s overall marketing structure.
One potentially unwelcome development, which will not be raised at the congress, is the decision of two Kenyan runners to change their nationality in order to earn more cash.
“Qatar will pay $1,000 every month, even after my retirement,” he said. “In Kenya there is nothing like this.” Another former Kenyan, Albert Chepkurui, finished fifth in the 5,000 in Zurich under his new name of Ahmad Hassan Abdullah. IAAF General Secretary Istvan Gyulai told reporters after a meeting on Monday that several council members had expressed concern at the pair’s decision to switch nationality. But he said IAAF rules had been observed and the issue would not be put to this year’s congress.
Longo Clinches Paris Qualifying Time
Italy’s Andrea Longo, who served a twoyear doping suspension, could race in the 800m at the World Championships in Paris after making the qualifying time at the Grand Prix meeting in Helsinki on Monday.
Longo, banned in 2001 after testing positive for nandrolone, was allowed to attempt to make the championships, which begin on Saturday, by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) despite the deadline of Aug. 13 having passed. The 28-year-old Longo, finished second here on Monday.
Saidi-Sief Fails to Qualify for World Championships
In Algiers, Olympic silver medalist Ali Saidi-Sief of Algeria has failed to achieve the minimum qualifying time over 5,000m for the World Championships starting in Paris next weekend, the Algerian Athletics Federation confirmed yesterday. Saidi-Sief had been given the green light to attempt to qualify after being suspended for two years for doping.
