Monaco, 11 November /QNA/
The eyes of athletics fans turn today, Friday, to the Principality of Monaco, where the name of the country that will have the honour of hosting the 2017 World Outdoor Athletics Championships will be announced during a meeting of the IAAF Council.
Two capitals are competing to host this global event, which is held once every two years: Doha, which has already organised numerous IAAF events, and London, which will host the Olympic Games next summer.
Moscow is set to host the same championship in 2013, and the championship will then go to Beijing in 2015. South Korea’s Daegu hosted the championship in 2011, while the previous edition was held in Berlin in 2009.
The World Outdoor Athletics Championships is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, ranking in importance after the Summer Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. The Qatar Olympic Committee and the Qatar Athletics Federation unveiled the Qatari bid to host this major championship last September, alongside a distinctive promotion of the Qatari bid to host athletics championships during the closing meeting of the Diamond League season in the Belgian capital, Brussels.
The Doha 2017 bid delegation has arrived in the Principality of Monaco to attend the meetings of the IAAF Council, during which the city that will host the championship’s events will be announced.
Brigadier General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, IAAF vice-president and acting president of the Asian Athletics Association, and deputy chairman of the Qatar 2017 bid’s supreme committee, handed over four copies of the State of Qatar’s official application to host the 16th edition of the World Athletics Championships in 2017. The handover ceremony took place on the sidelines of the Daegu 2011 World Championships in South Korea, where they were received by France’s Pierre Weiss, IAAF general secretary, on behalf of IAAF president Diack, a Senegalese national.
It is worth noting that HE Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, secretary-general of the Olympic Committee, chairs the Qatar 2017 bid’s supreme organising committee, which includes Brigadier General Dahlan Al Hamad as deputy chairman, Abdullah Al Zaini, president of the Qatar Athletics Federation, as chief executive, Saadoun Al Kuwari as director of support and services, Adel Al Baker as sports director, Isa Al Harami as venues director, Maher Saifi as marketing director, Dr Jabbar Al-Kaabi as technical director, and Aphrodite as planning director.
Doha’s ability to organise the championship at a high level: IAAF president, Senegalese national Lamine Diack, had announced the possibility of holding the 2017 edition of the World Championships outside the usual July-August dates, which boosts Doha’s chances of hosting the global event. Diack said, at a press conference held on the sidelines of the closing of the 13th edition of the World Championships, held this year in the South Korean city of Daegu: “We can change the dates, we have never said that the events must be held in August.”
For his part, HE Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, secretary-general of the Qatar Olympic Committee and former chairman of the Doha bid committee to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships, affirmed Doha’s ability to organise the championship at a high level should it win the honour of hosting it. An IAAF delegation had visited the Qatari facilities where the championship’s events would be held last month, headed by American Bob Hersh, first vice-president of the IAAF, who expressed, at the press conference closing the tour, his admiration for the remarkable development Doha is witnessing on every front. Hersh said: “The proposed schedule for holding the championship in Doha is during the period from 9 to 17 September 2017,” stressing that he is aware that the weather is hot in Qatar during the period proposed for holding the championship, but that the bid’s officials had promised to provide technology that could help solve the heat problem during that period. He added that the committee delegation visited Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, where the members saw the cooling system available in the stadium’s pitch and stands, stressing that what also impressed him about the Qatari bid, in addition to the stadiums and facilities, was the organising committee’s commitment and desire to bring this championship to the Middle East region for the first time, adding that the IAAF had previously organised numerous championships in the East Asia region.
On the first day of its inspection tour, the delegation visited Khalifa International Stadium, the training venues, Aspetar Hospital and the Qatar Exhibition Centre, and the championship’s media centre, which will be in the sports hall next to Khalifa Stadium and which has been equipped with the latest technology and required facilities, and also inspected the pitch that will host the competitions.
Development and expansion project The officials involved in the Qatari bid explained that Khalifa Stadium will undergo a development and expansion project in terms of the stands and other facilities, such as building a museum and various halls, and the explanation also covered the process of air-conditioning the stadium, as well as installing a giant screen at the top of the stands measuring one hundred metres in length, and that the cost of updating the stadium “will be between $300 and $400 million” and that it will be ready in 2016.
The Doha 2017 bid has won the backing and support of some of the world’s leading athletics champions, such as Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, the pole vault champion, Jamaican sprint champion Veronica Campbell, world-class Sudanese runner Abubaker Kaki Khamis, the 800m champion, and Norwegian javelin world champion Andreas Thorkildsen. The Asian Athletics Association also recently announced its support for the Doha bid to host the 2017 World Championships, saying in a statement: “The Asian Athletics Association, on behalf of its 44 members, expresses its strong support for the Doha bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships,” adding that “the Doha bid is in line with the long-term development plans adopted by the continental federation, in its determined effort to find new solutions that help athletics advance at the regional and international level.”
Qatar’s Dahlan Al Hamad, acting president of the Asian Athletics Association (also IAAF vice-president), said in a statement: “Many Asian athletics federations and members of the continental federation will benefit directly or indirectly from Doha hosting the 2017 World Athletics Championships, as the ambitious bid is on its way to finding the necessary solutions to the obstacles standing in the way of developing this sport.”
For his part, Maurice Nicholas, general secretary of the Asian Athletics Association, said in another statement: “We are giving our full support to the Doha 2017 bid, because organising the World Athletics Championships in the region makes a difference for all our members, whether large or small countries, and in step with Doha, the Asian Athletics Association is committed to building a strong and bright future for athletics on the yellow continent.”
Unlimited support from the Qatari government The Doha bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships enjoys unlimited support from the Qatari government, and HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of Qatar, then Heir Apparent and chairman of the Olympic Committee, said in this regard: “The Doha bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships enjoys unlimited support from the government and people of Qatar,” stressing that “sport occupies a fundamental place in the national vision of the State of Qatar, and we want athletics to have new opportunities to spread in our country and in the Middle East region in general.” He added, in an earlier statement to the Qatar News Agency: “Our team has put together a distinguished bid, rich in many unique features and ideas, and the Doha bid guarantees credibility and innovation and provides a platform for athletics to gain many new participants and fans through it, and to make this geographical region a new market pulsing with excitement by hosting the greatest championship in athletics.”
It should be noted that Qatar has significant experience in hosting sporting events, particularly those related to athletics, having organised one of the international meetings every year since the early 1990s, culminating in hosting the Grand Prix final in 2000, just days after the end of the Sydney Olympics. After the IAAF revised its programme and meetings and introduced the Diamond League, Doha in turn secured one of the legs of this league, which attracts the world’s leading runners. Doha also hosted the World Indoor Athletics Championships in March 2009 at Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence, and Qatar had earlier been awarded the honour of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals on 2 December of last year, prevailing over the United States in the final round of voting by FIFA member associations.
Qatar was also awarded the hosting of the 2015 World Men’s Handball Championship on 27 January of last year, and had also put forward its candidacy to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
