Lamine Diack flanked by 2006 World Athletes of the Year, Sanya Richards and Asafa Powell (© Getty Images)
"But before I reflect on the sporting issues of the past 12 months, I would like to spend some time talking about what the IAAF has achieved and plans to achieve on our journey to revolutionise and secure the long term future of our sport."
"Building a legacy for Athletics cannot happen overnight. All my predecessors began the building process by laying the foundations, and as senior Vice-President in the 80s, I was encouraging the life mission to transform the sport."
"Since 1999, my goal as President has been to make athletics more professional in structure, more commercially minded in approach, and to secure the financial future of the IAAF. Over the last 7 years, with the support of my colleagues on the IAAF Council, I have paid close attention to the issue of television and marketing agreements, and I believe that the facts speak for themselves. In 1999 when I took over, the IAAF was ready to agree a deal with ISL which would have included exclusive marketing and television rights, in return for a guaranteed income which would have helped us achieve Primo’s goal of having a year’s operating budget in reserve. But I decided that the IAAF should negotiate directly for the television rights and because of this, we were able to secure an excellent deal with EBU, until 2009, which has allowed us to more than double Primo’s ambitious target, and we now have more than 2 years operating budget in reserve."
"The IAAF’s determination to tackle marketing and TV issues in 2006 is reflected in my appointment of a specific IAAF Marketing Director, who has been working hard with our marketing partner Dentsu to finalise a number of significant deals, particularly in TV sales. Recently, we announced enhanced agreements for coverage of the IAAF World Series events in Africa and the Caribbean, but today I am very proud to be able to announce a new groundbreaking agreement in the USA for the next editions of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009. I am delighted to announce that NBC, the Olympic broadcaster, will be covering the next two editions of the World Championships for the first time since the early 1990s, and the NBC coverage will be supported by other deals with Versus, one of the fastest growing cable channels in the USA, which currently supplies 71 million homes, and WCSN (World Championship Sports Network) which will deliver every hour of the World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009 live."
"This American broadcasting agreement, of which you will find more details in the press release, is part of the IAAF’s long term strategy to increase the appeal and awareness of our sport for the general US sports fan and US based sponsors. It is important that an athlete such as Sanya Richards becomes as famous in the USA as she is outside her home country!"
"But although I am proud to be President of the IAAF in this period when we have achieved tremendous financial security, I am still energetic and excited to face the challenges of the future." "Our sport is a truly global one, and the IAAF currently boasts its largest ever membership - 212 Federations from every continent. But more important is the fact that the standard of athletics around the globe continues to improve, helped without a doubt by the massive investment made by the IAAF in the field of development. Consider this statistic: In 1983, at the first IAAF World Championships in Athletics, 153 nations attended, with medallists coming from only 25 countries, mainly from Europe. Last year, at the World Championships in Helsinki, there were athletes from 196 nations – with 40 of those supplying medals and 61 placing athletes in finals. The sport has been transformed, and with more money than ever, we aim to accelerate the world wide development of athletics."
"To this end, we have spent considerable time looking at our sport and devising a coherent, robust plan for the advancement of athletics. The Athletics World Plan offers solutions to the problems currently facing our sport but its implementation can not happen overnight, nor should it. We cannot rush the evolution of our sport but calmly complete the building of the house of athletics before handing it over to the next generation of leaders."
"Looking back at the various competitions of 2006 offers a good opportunity to stop and remember what has made our sport stand out this year. Ever since the beginning of the year, when we had a sold out stadium in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games athletics and a super edition of the World Indoor Championships in Moscow, our competition system has been a real promotion of athletics."
"The new IAAF World Athletics Tour and World Athletics Final and the IAAF Golden League have injected greater coherence into the competition structure. The last edition of the World Athletics Final, which took place in Stuttgart, for the first time, was a near sell-out and the IAAF World Cup in Athens had more than 35,000 spectators on the first day, which is far more than any of the recent editions."
"The IAAF is carrying out an ongoing reform of the international competition calendar and the structure of 1 day meetings, as part of the IAAF World Athletics Plan, and we fully expect to be able to deliver an even more coherent global athletics season that builds to an exciting and compelling climax. This can only be good for the fans, broadcasters, sponsors and for inspiring a new generation of young people to embrace our sport.
Finally, let me give my warmest personal congratulations to our two Athletes of the Year – Asafa Powell and Sanya Richards. You both fully deserve your honours after dominating your events all season, but most importantly, you are both in your early 20s and have the personalities and educational background to serve as role models to young people all over the world. I am determined to make Athletics the number 1 sport again in schools, and I know I can count on your full support to make this dream a reality." "Thank you for your attention."
Lamine Diack
IAAF President