IAAF
Evaluation Commission completes Mission after visits to Helsinki, Moscow and Budapest
IAAF Official Release
28 March 2002 - Monte
Carlo - After an 11 day mission, the IAAF
Evaluation Commission has completed its on-site visits of the 6 cities interested in
replacing London as host for the 2005 World Championships.
The Commission, composed of IAAF Vice-President Dapeng Lou (CHN) and Council Members Cesar Moreno Bravo (MEX) and Jamel Simohamed (ALG) as well as IAAF General Director Pierre Weiss, Communications Director Nick Davies and a representative of IAAF Marketing Partner Dentsu, visited Berlin, Brussels and Rome, completed the mission with visits to Helsinki, Moscow and Budapest after an interlude for the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin.
Leaving Budapest airport yesterday, Dapeng said: “We have had an extremely enjoyable 11 days, even if that included 13 separate flights. Each Bidding Committee prepared our itinerary and programme with great care and we were able to fulfil our task.
“Each city has paid great attention and importance to our visit. We were received by leaders of municipal, regional and state governments as well as representatives of sporting bodies and were provided with personal assurances of support and commitment. Each visit followed the same schedule and included tours of stadiums, warm up facilities, hotels and Congress facilities.
“I believe that the bidding process itself has been a tremendous promotion of our sport. Never before have so many major cities made bids to host the same edition of the World Championships in Athletics.
“The explicit support of so many leading politicians show that our World Championships is now more than just a sporting event, but a way for a city and a nation to promote its international reputation. In our last three trips we have discussed the World Championships with the Prime Minister of Finland Mr. Paavo Lipponen, the Lord Mayor of Helsinki, Mrs. Eva-Riitta Siitonen, the Lord Mayor of Moscow Yuriy Luzhkov, the President of Hungary Ferenc Madl and Budapest’s Lord Mayor Gabor Demszky. They were all extremely committed to supporting their country’s bids and this is good news for the sport as a whole.”
As well as evaluating existing plans, the Commission identified weak points in each city’s bid, in the hope that the bids can be improved before the final presentations are made in Nairobi on 14 April. The group has not been asked to draw up a ranking, but will collate as much objective information as possible to help the Council in their comparison of bids and final choice.
For more information contact Nick Davies: +33 6 07 93 62 85