IAAF President Lamine Diack's Speech

I am very pleased to be with you today, on the eve of the third, and last, edition of the World Athletics Final to take place in Monaco, which is also the Home of the IAAF.

Outside of the World Championships and Olympic Games, the IAAF World Athletics Final is the most star-studded fixture on the global athletics calendar.

As you are all aware, the start-list of the World Athletics Final is decided according to the IAAF World Ranking in each event, and with athletes who are in the top 7 positions (11 positions for the races of 1500m and over) in each event automatically qualifying, so there is no question that the third edition of the IAAF World Athletics Final will be filled by the very best of our sport.

With 34 events this year as the women’s 3000m Steeplechase is now included for the first time; I am very pleased to announce that Helsinki World Champions from 33 different events - 3 more than in Paris - should start in Monaco.

As a comparison, note that 2003, 30 individual Paris World Champions, and in 2004, 21 individual Athens Olympic gold medalists were present at the WAF.

The World Athletics Final is the pinnacle of not just the TDK Golden League and Grand Prix season but of the entire Athletics year, and in September 2005 it will be the showcase for many newly crowned World Champions from Helsinki.

The IAAF believes that this weekend of athletics is a genuine climax of the year, and I am pleased that during discussions about the future of the IAAF one day meeting circuit, a new look World Athletics Tour will continue to have the World Athletics Final as its peak starting from 2006. It is important that ALL of our stars, in ALL the disciplines, have the opportunity to come together in a TV friendly, promotion of our sport. In this time of increasing competition between sports, it is important that we encourage our most marketable events.

But as we come now to the climax of a long, hard year let’s recall briefly some of the highlights.

First of all, I think all of us who were at the World Cross Country Championships in St Galmier were thrilled by the tremendous standards, and also by the public’s support for the event. It was wonderful to enjoy some unusual sunny weather in March and to see more than 60,000 spectators cheering on the runners.

I was also very proud of the standards set by our young athletes at the World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, and was delighted by the fact that more than 180 Member Federations took part, and medalists came from 35 of them, including countries such as Iran, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Sudan and Venezuela, a sign of the growing fruits of the IAAF’s worldwide development programme.

Then of course, we come to Helsinki, which despite the misfortune of unseasonable rain storms, will be recalled with great affection by all of us as one of the best ever IAAF World Championships. First of all, despite the terrible weather, our athletes performed incredibly well. Despite the rain, the wind and the cold, the athletes always wanted to carry on.

And most significantly, we still had absolutely exceptional results, and tremendous competitions, and this should be a source of great pride to all the participants. As well as the three fantastic World Records of Olympiada Ivanova, Yelena Isinbayeva and Osleidys Menendez, 40 countries were medallists, and 61 represented in finals, another clear indicator that our sport is truly worldwide in appeal. As for the television coverage, I think the host broadcasters, YLE, made an excellent production, and truly captured the strong emotions and drama of our sport.

The total number of dedicated programmes increased by 16% when compared to the last Championships staged in Paris in 2003 with TV audience ratings averaging 3.5% across the full nine days and we were also pleased with the results of our efforts to increase our ratings in the USA, both with traditional broadcasts and pay-per-view web streaming via internet. Offering 3 minute TV highlights on the web, as well as the IAAF World Championships Radio coverage, helped us enhance our service, to fans, but also to members of the Media who were not in Helsinki.

Of course, as well as the Championships, we have continued with the IAAF Grand Prix in 2005, headed by the TDK Golden League, which has enjoyed many highlights in 2005; I can single out Tatyana Lebedeva winning the 1 Million Jackpot in Berlin last Sunday, and Kenenisa Bekele smashing the World Record in Brussels, but ever since the first meeting at the Stade de France on 1 July, which had a world record of 70,000 spectators present, the Golden League has continued to show its strong value.

But after all this action, as was the case in the last two summers, we will end the season in style, here in Monaco, the home of the IAAF. We have been very pleased that the World Athletics Final was born in Monaco, and has been nurtured well over the past three years. Starting next year, the WAF will move to Stuttgart, which has already marked our sport with superb editions of the European Championships in 1986 and our own World Championships in 1993, but I am glad that Monaco will also continue to support our sport by bringing back the “Herculis” international meeting, which will be part of the top level of meetings of the new World Athletics Tour.

But as well as the WAF, Monaco is also going to stage the World Athletics Gala on Saturday night, the prestigious annual celebration of our sport by the International Athletic Foundation (IAF), which I am pleased to co-host with Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco. We have a guest list of 900, including all the athletes from the World Athletics Final.

The highlight of the evening will of course be the annual awards ceremony for the Male and Female World Athletes of the Year, with the winners being announced live on stage.

As occurred for the first time last year, the list of the top 15 athletes (both men and women) in the IAAF World Rankings (Overall) has been whittled down to five candidates (both men and women) via a public poll carried out on our website.

This shortlist of 5 athletes is:

MEN
In alphabetical order
Virgilijus Alekna LITHUANIA
Kenenisa Bekele ETHIOPIA
Justin Gatlin  USA
Asafa Powell  JAMAICA
Liu Xiang  CHINA

WOMEN
In alphabetical order
Christine Arron FRANCE
Tirunesh Dibaba ETHIOPIA
Yelena Isinbayeva RUSSIA
Carolina Klüft  SWEDEN
Paula Radcliffe GREAT BRITAIN

As for Performances of the Year, the Public’s nominations are:

MEN
In alphabetical order
Virgilijus Alekna      LITHUANIA
Kenenisa Bekele for his World Cross Double  ETHIOPIA
Kenenisa Bekele for his World Record   ETHIOPIA
Rens Blom       THE NETHERLANDS
Asafa Powell       JAMAICA

WOMEN
In alphabetical order
Kajsa Bergqvist  SWEDEN
Tirunesh Dibaba  ETHIOPIA
Dorcus Inzikuru  UGANDA
Yelena Isinbayeva  RUSSIA
Paula Radcliffe  GREAT BRITAIN

The final selection of Athlete of the Year and Performance of the Year will be made after taking consideration of results achieved at the World Athletics Final in Monaco (9-10 September).
The Gala will also give the Athletics Family the opportunity to honour our Rising Stars, and a very Distinguished Career, as well as celebrate all the highlights of the year 2005 in Athletics. To keep everyone musically entertained, we are very pleased to have the group Kassav with us, who have been international stars since the mid 1980s as the Kings of Zouk dance music

Lamine Diack