Bruce James outside the Stade Louis II (© bj)
Bruce James (Kingston, Jamaica) entered the IAAF World Athletics Finals Promotional Competition, and tied for first with Orhan Avsar (Cologne, Germany) as both correctly predicted 6 of 8 possible winners for the selected events at the 9th IAAF World Athletics Championships, Paris 2003 Saint-Denis, France. The prize included attending the 1st World Athletics Final in Monaco (13-14 September). Now Bruce shares with us his experience of his first ever European athletics meeting:
My first European Track and Field Meeting
At 3630 metres above sea level, La Paz, Bolivia (South America) is one of the highest cities in the world. A consequence of this is that there is less oxygen in the air thereby making breathing more difficult than at lower elevations. This therefore may not have been the best place for me to learn that I was going to Monaco to watch the 1st World Athletics Final courtesy of the IAAF, as I could hardly breathe when I received the notification by email.
I am still not sure when I first realised that I was living a track fan’s dream. It may have been flying to Nice, France with double Olympic Champion Alberto Juantorena, or checking into the exclusive Columbus Hotel in Monaco at the same time as World record holder, World Champion and IAAF Athlete of the Year Hicham El Guerrouj, or having lunch with two-time former world’s fastest marathoner Tegla Loroupe.
Then there is the actual track and field meeting and what an eye opener. As you enter the Stade Louis II the atmosphere is magical, the beautiful architecture of the stadium combined with the Mediterranean Sea as a backdrop. Now I understand why Merlene Ottey cannot stop running or why Edwin Moses wants to make a comeback.
The music during the distance races was new to me. It was very interesting to see the multi-lingual announcer roaming the infield interviewing athletes for all to hear immediately after each event. Then there is the multitude of events taking place simultaneously and the apparently knowledgeable and receptive audience responding to every jump, throw or run. It was great to see that field events got as much attention as track events. In fact I am sure that the crowd played a positive role in Eunice Barber’s national record 7.05 metres on her last jump of the competition.
The non-stop information provided almost instantaneously by both the extra large video monitor (there were cameras at every field event), the result board showing the top 8 times within 60 seconds of the end of the event, the field event boards giving the competitor’s name and performance as soon as it was known to the officials, video replays of every field event attempt and every race, it was exactly what the track and field doctor ordered for the track and field fan.
It was also amazing to see the athletes elevated to superstar status as the crowd desperately pursued them for autographs and pictures. In fact the warm up field had to be secured to ensure that the numerous adoring fans could not access the competitors.
The weekend came to a climactic close with the World Athletics Gala held at the fabulous, and apparently limitless, Forum Grimaldi. The Foundation (IAF) and IAAF officials hosted an exquisite evening. While literally rubbing elbows with the who’s who of global athletics, we moved from cocktails to the live-on-television announcement of the World Athletes of the Year 2003. Then with equal ease we moved to the Espace Diaghilev for a memorable dinner.
Now that I have returned to the virtual reality of www.iaaf.org instead of seeing the best athletes in the world live and direct, I am just grateful to have lived the track fan’s dream in Monaco.
Bruce James (Kingston, Jamaica)
