Senegal’s Diack: Qatar a prominent milestone in the journey of athletics and a model to be emulated
Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatari and Asian athletics federations and IAAF vice-president, said at a meeting with the world media who had come to cover the opening round of the Diamond League starting tomorrow, attended by Senegal’s Lamine Diack, IAAF president, that Qatar’s bid to host the 2019 World Championships was in line with Qatar’s ambitions to continue its plans to host major global championships, in keeping with the ongoing development and growth the country is currently witnessing across various fields, and to translate our wise leadership’s Vision 2030 for the Qatar of the future, pointing to the strong confidence and extensive accumulated experience our staff have built up in our efforts to win, God willing, the right to host the 2019 World Championships.
For his part, Senegal’s Lamine Diack, IAAF president, praised the tremendous sporting leap Qatar has been experiencing for decades, noting at the same time the unlimited support and strong backing athletics receives from the country’s sporting leadership, which has made Qatar a prominent milestone in the journey of athletics and a successful model of achievement. He reminded everyone of the modest beginnings of the Golden Grand Prix meetings, without a women’s category, in the 1990s, due to social circumstances at the time, which have since disappeared with development and progress. Doha then moved forward with determination and resolve to achieve an unprecedented qualitative leap and became a model to be emulated. This came at the start of Diack’s remarks before a group of international media, guests of the Doha Diamond League meeting, who had accepted the invitation of HE Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatari and Asian athletics federations, IAAF vice-president and head of the higher organising committee for the Doha Diamond League 2014 meeting. He hosted the media at a morning breakfast banquet and a friendly discussion session alongside the captain of world athletics’s ship, Senegal’s Diack, covering the sport’s journey and future prospects and ambitions, with everyone enriching the discussion with in-depth contributions and enlightened ideas for the benefit of athletics.
Amin Diack added: “Yes, through a long history of dedication, Qatar has managed to achieve qualitative sporting and organisational development.” The IAAF president then discussed Qatar’s bid to host the 2019 World Athletics Championships, saying: “Doha has indeed bid to host the first global outdoor athletics event of 2019, alongside the cities of Barcelona, Spain, and Eugene, USA, and all the cities are worthy of the honour of hosting, and we have great confidence in everyone.” Asked whether Qatar’s unsuccessful 2017 bid would affect its chances, Diack denied this, saying: “On the contrary, the Doha and London 2017 bids were both excellent at the time, and the council sought to reconcile the two bids and tried to persuade Qatar to instead bid for 2019, but our brothers insisted on 2017, so we had to proceed with the competition and go to a vote within the council, as there was a strong wish not to lose either city given the strength of both bids. In the end London won the hosting rights, and I won’t hide from you that our goal was first to try to help London preserve its distinguished Olympic stadium from being taken over by football, and with this step we succeeded to some extent in our effort to avoid losing a high-quality track.”
Asia has high potential
Diack addressed the sport’s global future, saying: “Without doubt, athletics faces major challenges on every continent without exception, from a lack of funding due to economic difficulties, to failures in implementing programmes, and so on. In my personal view, I believe the continents of Asia and Africa have great potential to rise, especially Asia in particular, which has huge human and economic resources, and there is real potential for development and improvement – they simply need to make the effort and work to translate plans and programmes into reality on the ground.”
A fruitful discussion
Discussion and debate then continued between Diack and Al Hamad for two hours on issues facing world athletics and future visions, from obstacles and difficulties to new prospects for achieving a qualitative leap for the sport, in line with its standing internationally and at the Olympic level as the mother of world sports
