Thursday, 12 July 2007
Words from the Meeting Director - Rome
Rome - Luigi D'Onofrio (c)
Tomorrow night will be the 14th Golden Gala for Luigi D’Onofrio. Aged 59, a schoolteacher by profession, as he busies himself around the meeting office in the event hotel atop of one of the Eternal City’s famed seven hills, D’Onofrio is convinced that he has found one surefire way to address one of the biggest challenges for the Italian stage of the IAAF Golden League…
D’Onofrio has turned to the schoolchildren of Rome and the surrounding Lazio region.
Suitably, in the year that the Golden Gala introduces its sponsorship from Kinder+Sport, D’Onofrio has recruited help from 360 municipalities to help promote the meeting, including a series of races for the children early in the evening which will see them each bring their doting parents, aunts, uncles and even grandparents for an evening out, and help fill the massive bowl of the Stadio Olimpico and give the world’s elite track and field athletes the sort of atmosphere they deserve.
“Through this initiative, we have given out around 12,000 guest tickets,” D’Onofrio says.
“I think we now will have around 40,000 spectators on Friday night. Of course, in a stadium with an 80,000 capacity, you might say that it is still half-empty, but it will mean we will have twice the attendance of, say, Zurich, or three times that in Oslo. It is a great number of fans for an athletics meeting.”
D’Onofrio is also confident that all four of the remaining contestants for the $1 million Golden League jackpot - Tero Pitkämäki (Men’s Javelin), Yelena Isinbayeva (Women’s Pole Vault), Sanya Richards (Women’s 400m) and Michelle Perry (Women’s 100m Hurdles) - will be out there battling to stay in contention at the halfway stage for at least a quarter share of the richest prize in the sport.
For D’Onofrio, World record holder Asafa Powell’s return from injury in the 100 metres - the Jamaican missed Paris last Friday - could be one of the big events to watch, but he is also keen to see how the big, vocal and passionate Roman crowd respond to their hometown stars, Andrew Howe in the Men’s Long Jump and Antonietta Di Martino, who is ranked second in the world this year in the Women’s High Jump.
“But also, the Women’s Pole Vault should be of World Championship standard, because we have the three best performers of all-time competing,” D’Onofrio says in his immaculate English.
D’Onofrio is not without his headaches, however, with the track season now getting into full swing, no meeting is without some fixture clash or other, and the Golden Gala is having to make do without many top Russians, who are concentrating on their national championships and team selection for the IAAF World Championships in Osaka next month.
“Also, I have almost none of the top British athletes, because they are in Sheffield.”
The withdrawal on Tuesday this week of the entire contingent expected from Ethiopia - diverted by their national federation because of the African Championships - has hit D’Onofrio particularly harshly. “It is a great shame. We always try to put on some of the best distance races of the year, but our two 5000 metres races now … well, they are not the same. I shall have to speak to the IAAF about this, because the Golden League, the showpiece of the sport, needs the best athletes.”
Steven Downes for the IAAF
D’Onofrio has turned to the schoolchildren of Rome and the surrounding Lazio region.
Suitably, in the year that the Golden Gala introduces its sponsorship from Kinder+Sport, D’Onofrio has recruited help from 360 municipalities to help promote the meeting, including a series of races for the children early in the evening which will see them each bring their doting parents, aunts, uncles and even grandparents for an evening out, and help fill the massive bowl of the Stadio Olimpico and give the world’s elite track and field athletes the sort of atmosphere they deserve.
“Through this initiative, we have given out around 12,000 guest tickets,” D’Onofrio says.
“I think we now will have around 40,000 spectators on Friday night. Of course, in a stadium with an 80,000 capacity, you might say that it is still half-empty, but it will mean we will have twice the attendance of, say, Zurich, or three times that in Oslo. It is a great number of fans for an athletics meeting.”
D’Onofrio is also confident that all four of the remaining contestants for the $1 million Golden League jackpot - Tero Pitkämäki (Men’s Javelin), Yelena Isinbayeva (Women’s Pole Vault), Sanya Richards (Women’s 400m) and Michelle Perry (Women’s 100m Hurdles) - will be out there battling to stay in contention at the halfway stage for at least a quarter share of the richest prize in the sport.
For D’Onofrio, World record holder Asafa Powell’s return from injury in the 100 metres - the Jamaican missed Paris last Friday - could be one of the big events to watch, but he is also keen to see how the big, vocal and passionate Roman crowd respond to their hometown stars, Andrew Howe in the Men’s Long Jump and Antonietta Di Martino, who is ranked second in the world this year in the Women’s High Jump.
“But also, the Women’s Pole Vault should be of World Championship standard, because we have the three best performers of all-time competing,” D’Onofrio says in his immaculate English.
D’Onofrio is not without his headaches, however, with the track season now getting into full swing, no meeting is without some fixture clash or other, and the Golden Gala is having to make do without many top Russians, who are concentrating on their national championships and team selection for the IAAF World Championships in Osaka next month.
“Also, I have almost none of the top British athletes, because they are in Sheffield.”
The withdrawal on Tuesday this week of the entire contingent expected from Ethiopia - diverted by their national federation because of the African Championships - has hit D’Onofrio particularly harshly. “It is a great shame. We always try to put on some of the best distance races of the year, but our two 5000 metres races now … well, they are not the same. I shall have to speak to the IAAF about this, because the Golden League, the showpiece of the sport, needs the best athletes.”
Steven Downes for the IAAF