IAAF President Lamine Diack with members of the IAAF Diamond League (© Getty Images)
MonteCarloAfter officially announcing the creation of the IAAF Diamond League, representatives of the IAAF and the Directors of each of the meetings who have already contractually adhered to the League gathered in Monaco’s Fairmont Hotel to outline how the circuit of the best one-day meetings in the world will commence and operate in 2010 and beyond.
IAAF President Lamine Diack who will act as the Chairman of the IAAF Diamond League declared: “It has always been one of our dreams to see the circuit of our best meetings going to each corner of the world. And today, we are all sitting here and are proud to say that the dream has come true. For myself, and my colleagues of the IAAF Council, it is great to have this agreement signed and see the best meetings gathered in a Diamond League which will be going all around the world and more so it is great for me to be able to announce that all the events* of our sport will be touring around the world.”
Joining President Diack in today’s Teleconference, were two representatives of the IAAF Diamond League, Patrick Magyar (Weltklasse Zürich) and Rajne Söderberg (DN Galan).
Magyar said: “It is great to have a comeback of all the events and show the versatility of athletics. This change is just one step towards improving each meeting every year. We are not touching at the sport; we are looking at packaging our sport in a better way.”
Söderberg added: “The best athletes in the world will gain from taking part in the Diamond League, the incentive will be higher than in any other meeting.”
32 events will be contested at the IAAF Diamond League with 16 events being staged by each meeting on a rotational basis, which for example means that one year the men’s 100m will be staged in Brussels but not in Zürich and the following year it will be Zürich’s turn to have the 100m and not Brussels. There will be a turnaround for all 32 events which will be shared amongst the meetings, with the exception of the Aviva London Grand Prix whose 2-day format will be maintained and therefore the British capital will stage all 32 events over the space of 48 hours.
Two finals – 16 events in each final
With regards to the IAAF Diamond Race, which will award a 4 carat Diamond to the athlete with the highest score in each of the 32 events, athletes will be able to score points in each meeting with no restriction of number of meetings but limited to one single event (ie: points scored for 100m & 200m cannot be added).
The winner of the Diamond Race will be awarded at the final meeting which will host his/her event. There will be 2 separate finals – one in Zürich and one in Brussels – with each staging 16 different events. Zürich and Brussels have been chosen, in principle, as hosts of the finals for the next 3 years but it will be possible for any other meeting, should its quality surpass expectations, to take over the final in the following year.
As for the World Athletics Final (WAF), President Lamine Diack confirmed that it will be discontinued after 2010 (as the IAAF already has an engagement with Morocco who will host the 2010 edition of the IAAF WAF).
IAAF
* Unfortunately for infrastructure reasons the men’s and women’s Hammer Throw cannot be included in the IAAF Diamond League. The IAAF and its President Lamine Diack will ensure that a Hammer Throw challenge will be created.
