News28 Sep 2004


TDK Golden League Quiz Winners at the World Athletics Final and Gala

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Christine Bertram and her boyfriend at World Athletics Final (© IAAF)

Christine Bertram was the winner of the first prize in the TDK Golden League Quiz. She and her boyfriend spent a memorable weekend in Monte Carlo for the World Athletics Final and World Athletics Gala. Here she recounts her trip from the moment she received the email telling her she had won.

The day I learnt that I won
It was one of those days where pretty much everything went wrong. I woke up late, I couldn’t complete the work I wanted to because my e-mail was on strike in the morning, and so on.

So it was already 6 pm and all I wanted was to go home. Just briefly checking my e-mail before heading out, I noticed a message: “URGENT!” Oh yeah, great... what kind of mail could that be with URGENT in the subject header... However, something still made me click to read the full text and only then I realised that the heading continued: TDK Golden League Quiz.

I vaguely remembered that I had entered my suggestions on who would win the Jackpot, but during the season I had never really compared the meeting results with what I had tipped. I just thought “I’ve never won anything so I won’t win this time either”. But there it was, the message congratulating me on winning the first prize, the week-end at the World Athletics Final in Monaco. I still couldn’t believe it, so I checked the IAAF and the TDK Golden League websites for confirmation. Surely, I found what I was looking for... It was only good, I was securely sitting on my office chair. I grabbed the phone and called my mother, she started laughing very hard, but congratulated me. After finishing our phone talk, I walked over to my colleague’s office, and told her about it. She just looked at me in disbelief, but then got really excited as well and explained that all she had ever won was a case of beer for her boyfriend.

With a big smile on my face I went home, with some champagne and Quiche Lorraine in my shopping bag, to tell my boyfriend, Oliver, about it. He was quite speechless. We were in the middle of moving and the schedule was pretty tight anyways, and 3 days away... that seemed not possible at first sight. However, in the end he was happy for the 2 of us and getting all excited.

Needless to say that the next days were pretty packed with preparing everything. But thanks to the people at IAAF headquarters who did all the travel arrangements and answered all our questions (thanks Nathalie) the preparations went rather smooth and we could start into our adventure.

Saturday, September 18
Our day started at 5 am, and the night before had been rather short as we had to drive to Stuttgart and a lot of story telling needed to be done. We were well in time at the airport, and the plane to Lyon took off with a total of 3 passengers on time. The flight provided some pretty sights as we were passing over the Alps during sunrise, a really magnificent view. In Lyon we had a short transfer before our plane took off to Nice.

After an hour’s flight we arrived. Having seen the Mediterranean Sea and the coast line from the plane we were getting more and more excited. In Nice, people were already waiting for us and welcomed us. After only a short minibus ride, we finally arrived at the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel, the place where all the athletes stayed, and we would be right in the middle. Sean, the IAAF’s New Media Manager, was already waiting for us and helped us through the check in. We received our welcome packages with all the vouchers, invitations, tickets, and other necessary information, and we already sighted some of the top athletes (Kelly Holmes was jogging past us, some others were waiting for the bus to the stadium).

Once we had the keys, we headed straight to our room to change into some lighter clothes. We were looking forward to a wonderful afternoon in the sun with a track and field meet packed with stars. The room was just great, looking straight at the sea, with a nice balcony from which we were able to see all the cruise ships and yachts coming in to the harbour. Having changed, we went up to have lunch as you cannot spend the day out without having something in your stomach. Needless to say that the food was excellent and plentiful, and the company we shared while eating turned out to be eminent (among others Lamine Diack, the IAAF President).

After lunch, we decided to walk to the stadium and pass on the shuttle bus. We were told it was only about a 20 min walk from the hotel to the stadium, and it certainly was... if you knew the way. We didn’t and so we got slightly lost, ending up at the Palace. However, the policemen in Monaco are all very helpful and directed us to the stadium (though we first had to persuade them, that we didn’t want to jump from the cliff and swim across the bay). Finally having arrived at the stadium just in time for the competitions. It was all so exciting. Being a runner myself, I can gauge the tactics and was able to explain to my boyfriend what was going on. For him, it was a first time experience. He had never been to a track meet, let alone seen a 400 m or 100 m race other than on TV.

We were right there, with our noses on the track, with Kenesisa Bekele three seats further down the row. Seeing how Tim Lobinger had to quit the pole vault competition early was a bit disappointing, but Tim Mack made up for it by vaulting 6 meters. I also kept an eye on the Golden League winners as they were my lucky charms so to say. It was very impressive to see how Christian Olsen won the triple jump in a fantastic competition and a bit of a bummer to see Tonique Williams-Darling finish last. But at the same time, I could understand it. After such an amazing season with the Golden League jackpot and the Olympic Gold, it is tough to keep it up all the way to the end.

In the end we had had an amazing afternoon. Oliver was so impressed, he couldn’t believe all the Olympians that were competing, and we were both looking forward to a great second day at the stadium.

After all the excitement on the track, we walked back to the hotel, as we wanted to do some sightseeing. Monaco is very walkable and offers many very nice spots with gorgeous views. You just have to keep your eyes open, sometimes the spots are not that visible directly. Back at the hotel, we had a plan of eating dinner and then either going to the roof top bar or one of the other hotel bars. But it all didn’t happen. We were so tired, that we almost fell asleep over dinner. So we decided to call it a day and besides it was already 10 pm and the day had been long.

Sunday, 19 September
After a good night’s rest, we got up and had breakfast. Sharing a table with Elvan Abeylegesse provided for a good start. Back in our room, we did a dress rehearsal for the evening, just checking if all our clothes fit together and whether they looked good. Once we had assured ourselves that all would be fine, we headed out to see a bit more of Monaco, this time we went away from the sea more towards the mountains. Though most of the streets consist of high rising apartment houses, there is the occasional gap for a church or an older town house. We were back for lunch and ready to catch the shuttle bus to the stadium. This time we wanted to make sure we got to the stadium comfortably and well in time.

It was interesting to see all the kids waiting for “their” track stars to get an autograph or take a picture with them. The athletes readily complied with their requests, which was good to see.

Back in the stadium, the action started right away. In the men’s 800 m, I was hoping that Wilfried Bungei would repeat his fast times from the Golden League, but that didn’t happen. Afterwards, in the men’s 1500 m race, my guess was that Ivan Heshko would win, as it all looked like a sprint down to the finish line. It sure turned out to be that kind of race and Heshko indeed won. Meanwhile, the women’s Pole Vault had started, and I was predicting that Yelena Isinbayeva would try a new world record. The attempts all looked very promising, but the little touch in the end was missing. Nevertheless it was a great competition to watch. My favourite event of the day, though, was the 3000 m steeplechase. It was amazing to see how, with a very short but sharp sprint, Shaheen was distancing the world’s elite in that event and then carrying on to try and break the world record. It was rather a pity though that he missed it by about 2 seconds, but it was a highly impressive showing.

When the second day of competitions came to an end, we were a bit sad, because we would have loved to see more of it. However, we decided that we will attend either Brussels or Zurich next year to get more of the excitement. The two days of competition really got Oliver infected with the track and field virus, while I decided that I definitely need to do something to get back into competitive racing.

Back in the hotel, we had just little time to shower and get dressed before we walked over to the Gala. It was strange to see most of the male athletes in black suites with bow tie or a tie, and the ladies in long robes. You are used to seeing them in tracksuits and not dressed up, so it was hard to recognise some of them. The reception at the Grimaldi Forum was nice with all the athletes mingling and waiting to be let into the Auditorium for the Gala. Again we ended up in between some world class people (among them Tegla Loroupe and Tirunesh Dibaba) and it was quite nice to chat with them while we were waiting for the show to start.

The show was short and filled with memorable moments of the season just passed. It was also very moving to follow how Yelena Isinbayeva and Kenenisa Bekele were awarded the “Athlete of the Year” awards and how they were fighting their emotions when thanking their families, coaches and all people involved. The ceremony ended with some enjoyable African music which accompanied the people while heading back to the hotel for the Gala Dinner. New groups formed and all over there was a happy chit-chatting, smiling and laughing. The 3-course menu that was served was delicious and introduced some local specialities I had never tried before (Foie gras among others). We enjoyed a last cup of coffee and some pralines, before heading out to the lobby while in the dinner room, the dancing started.

We were presented a wonderful book with pictures of athletes in a different environment than the track. The pictures are very beautiful and the book is highly recommendable. After chilling in the lobby for a bit, looking at the pictures and waiting for Prince Albert of Monaco to pass by when leaving the hotel, we decided way past 1 am to go to bed.

Monday, 20 September
Getting up early would be a good idea, we thought. It would give us sufficient time to pack and have a last look at Monaco. So we had breakfast and checked with the Welcome Office what would be the best time for us to head out to the airport. It turns out that we needed to go earlier than expected, so getting up early was indeed a good idea. We took a last short walk to the Grimaldi Forum and through the beautiful Japanese garden and went back to the hotel to check out. It turned out that the 11 am bus was the most popular one, as many people apparently had planes to catch in the early afternoon. The bus quickly filled with athletes and coaches, poles were passed in and out, everybody was giving a hand where necessary. It was a happy and friendly atmosphere. It made us even more sad that we had to leave and all this would be over in just a few hours. Though all things should end when they are at their best, someone said once. A last glimpse, a last good bye... and off we were.

We arrived back in Stuttgart with some delay as we had to change our route in Nice. Our initial plane was delayed and we were re-routed through Paris instead of Lyon. However, we arrived happy, with lots of impressions and stories to tell. And we had the experience of a life time.

We would like to thank everybody for making this week-end possible. For all the work with the planning and booking, the help we received in Monaco, the patience in answering all our questions, and of course the athletes for incredible performances throughout the year and at the World Athletics Final. We wish everybody that they stay healthy and that they have a splendid year next year.

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