Hundreds of thousands to compete in World athletics day 2000, the world's largest participatory sports event
4 May 2000 - Monte-Carlo – On 7 May, hundreds of thousands of youngsters in over 150 countries will be competing for a chance to win a free trip to the IAAF World Championships in Athletics that will take place in Edmonton, Canada in August 2001.
The IAAF first introduced World Athletics Day in 1996 and in that first edition 24 youngsters from around the world won a trip to the Atlanta Olympics as guests of the IAAF.
Successive annual editions of World Athletics Day have taken the winners to the IAAF World Championships in Athens (1997), the IAAF World Cup in Johannesburg (1998) and the 7th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Seville last year.
For this fifth edition of the World Athletics Day, the IAAF Council will draw 12 youngsters (one boy and one girl from each of the six IAAF Continental Areas) from among the winning athletes participating around the world. A further twelve will be drawn from the winners of World Athletics Day 2001.
The lucky winners will be announced after this year’s draw, which is scheduled to take place at the IAAF Council Meeting in Sydney.