Lamine Diack launches the IAAF Golden League in Rome
I would first like to thank you all for accepting this invitation on the occasion of the launch of the fourth edition of the IAAF’s Golden League, whose first event takes place tomorrow in Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
I don’t think we could have come up with a better place to start – and not just because to many people Rome remains the “caput mundi” – the capital of the world, just as it was 2000 years ago.
But I am thinking especially about sport. Because today, Rome has become Italy’s Capital of Sport and its two soccer teams – Roma and Lazio – proud owners of the title of Italian Champion for the past two seasons. I am sure that even though the city recently celebrated its Serie A triumph in great style, there is still space left for a party of Athletics.
In this sport, Rome also has an important tradition. And to pay tribute to this fact, the IAAF has invited a legendary name from the past, Said Aoutia to join the festivities with us.
I will let him recall the emotions of a special night – 22 July 1987 – in the Rome Olympic Stadium. It was then that he scaled a memorable barrier and became the first man to run the 5000 metres in less than 13 minutes. Little more than a month later he returned to the same stadium and became World Champion at the same distance.
This spectacular heritage will live again tomorrow with the latest edition of the Honda Golden Gala. Thanks to the work of the Italian Federation, we are guaranteed the appearance of great champions, but would like to point out that the natural heir of Aouita – Hicham El Guerrouj – will not only be present but plans nothing less than an attempt on his own world record.
But it would be a mistake that the Golden League is just about record attempts. Rather, the Golden League, like our World Championships or the Olympics, is about head-to-head contest, spectacle and emotion. In the Golden League, victory counts for more than results.
And this is what will shape our future vision of this circuit. From 2003, the IAAF plans to change the format of the Golden League so that there will be six – maybe five meetings, and with fewer meetings will come the demand for athletes to win ALL the meetings to qualify for a share of the Jackpot.
This “concentration” may also help focus the interest of the Media and General Public.
With regard to Television, the Golden League is increasingly popular. For the 2001 edition, we even hope to get better ratings in the 112 countries where the Golden League is broadcast, and welcome the addition of SkyTV to existing partners like Canal Plus. Great Britain represents an extremely important market for athletics and we are happy that this territory is now included to others in Europe and the rest of the world.
But from 2003 we hope to do even better. By this time we will have renegotiated our TV contract for the Golden League for a period of three years. We have a number of options: either our existing partner for the World Athletics Series – EBU, another network or even Pay TV.
In any case, regardless of what happens to the TV coverage, there will be a number of important modifications to the Grand Prix and Golden League circuits.
In 2003, the Grand Prix will consist of all of the individual disciplines, and a Grand Prix Final over two days. The aim is to combine the Grand Prix Final with the Golden League Final but that depends on the new TV contract. In any case, we have a number of important venues interested in the new format.
Another possibility would be to find a permanent home for the Grand Prix Final, to find a regular space for it in the calendar at the beginning of September and, if possible, to combine the event with the annual World Athletics Gala.
We are determined to carry out these changes, and to demonstrate that athletics doesn’t just have a rich history but great potential as well. One proof I have of this is what happened in the immediate aftermath to the demise of our long-term marketing partners ISL.
Well, before we had time to react, we were approached by 12 marketing companies from all over the world. They were enthusiastic about representing our interests in this important field.
We have now whittled down this list to a few major players – and I am delighted to say that our financial future seems even brighter than it was when we signed the last deal with ISL at the beginning of 2000 – A sure sign that our sport never goes out of fashion!
