General view - IAAF Council Meeting, Moscow, Russia, (© sportfoto)
The IAAF Council concluded its meeting in the Russian capital as follows…
IAAF Development
In its report to Council, the chairman of the IAAF Development Commission Amadeo Francis, noted that in the 15 years since the IAAF had created a development programme, a total of US$94 million had been invested in development, of which $29 million had been for educational activities, $21 million for administration grants to Member Federations, Area Associations and Area Representatives, and $25.5 million for competition grants.
Council agreed to accept the proposed IAAF Development budget of over US$13 million, which means that one out of every four dollars spent by the IAAF in 2006 will be on development.
A dynamic programme aimed at restoring athletics as a leading sport at school and youth level would be pursued in 2006 with a member of IAAF staff appointed as a permanent co-ordinator of school/youth activities. The IAAF will also produce new educational material for youth age groups and has agreed that the IAAF World Athletics Day – which takes place each year to promote the sport amongst younger age groups, will become the World School Athletics Day, with a major promotional campaign, starting in 2006.
Report of IAAF World Championships in Athletics – Helsinki 2005
Council heard a closing report from the organisers of the most recent edition of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, held last summer in Helsinki. The CEO of Helsinki 2005 Antti Pihlakoski said: “Our main objective had been to organise a World Championships, with a warm, unique and entertaining atmosphere which would enhance the value of Finnish and world athletics. We believe that we delivered on this, despite some challenges like the extreme weather. We were also pleased with the financial outcome because our budget was relatively low (around US$28 million) and we did not have large contributions from public institutions. We were pleased with our marketing programmes because we set a Finnish record of $17 million from ticket sales, making 3 million more than the World Ice Hockey Championships, but also set a record for Finnish sports sponsorship revenue, making $6 million. I hope that our work for Helsinki 2005 shows that smaller sized countries and cities can organise major sporting events, if they pay special care to cost effectiveness.”
IAAF Athletics’ World Plan
Summarising the on-going development of the IAAF Athletics’ World Plan, which aims to foster a stronger, healthier sport, at all levels, by the time of the IAAF centenary in 2012, President Diack confirmed: “Following a meeting of our steering board earlier this week, I can confirm that we are now ready to move from the internal planning phase to the external delivery of key targets, in co-operation with our Area associations and Member Federations. I believe that we can now build on the positive response to this World Plan shown by our Congress delegates in Helsinki, and specifically look forward to encouraging the new School and Youth Commission to meet their important challenges. It is vital that we find ways to encourage athletics at school level so as to increase the size of our athlete talent pool.”
The IAAF Council concluded its meeting in Moscow by reviewing the work of future World Athletics Series Event organisers: 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Moscow, World Race Walking Cup in La Coruna, Spain, and the World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
IAAF