Hotels in the Chinese capital Beijing are hosting continuous meetings by members of the international federations, who have gathered and all arrived in Beijing for the general assembly and elections. There is tireless activity among candidates seeking to present their programmes and secure the trust and votes needed to enter the new executive board, at a time when the special committee monitoring the elections has begun its work tracking the movements of members and candidates to ensure a fair democratic process serving athletics through the election of a new president, vice-presidents and a new executive board. Despite the continuous oversight
carried out under IAAF supervision, some candidates are facing certain difficulties, especially since more than one rival for more than one post is seeking to secure the largest possible number of votes, which has caused considerable confusion among allied members. This has brought relative calm among members in presenting programmes and reaching out for votes, but more than one election observer has described it as the calm before the storm, with the coming hours expected to bring many surprises that could lead to major concessions according to observers, and the democratic process is expected to be more difficult this time, especially given the close monitoring by the special committee
overseeing the elections, where committee officials are being especially strict given recent talk surrounding athletics. The style of promotion used by the Qatari candidate has impressed the federations. The Qatar Athletics Federation delegation arrived in the Chinese capital to support Major General Dahlan Al Hamad in contesting the elections for the post of vice-president, with Mohammed Jassim Al Kuwari, secretary-general, Mohammed Sulaiman, assistant secretary-general, and Talal Mansour keen to present model examples of support to members of the international federations relating to a printed programme put forward by Al Hamad on more than one occasion, even before he formally announced his candidacy. The idea that stood out most among the candidates and
impressed candidates for other posts was the elegant official publications carrying Al Hamad’s image and ideas for making an addition to world athletics, alongside a clearly displayed nomination card without going into excessive detail — a style that Greek expert Georgios, an expert with the IAAF in championship organisation, described as more than refined and a clear expression of a fair and transparent way of gaining support, a view shared by Sudan Athletics Federation vice-president Brigadier Mustafa Abbadi, who considered it a distinctive way of promoting programmes and winning voters’ trust in athletics. Greek expert Georgios
Konstabolos: we support Dahlan Al Hamad’s candidacy for the post of IAAF vice-president. Greek expert Georgios Konstabolos, organiser of Grand Prix meetings in Europe and an active member of European Athletics, affirmed that he is not himself a candidate for any IAAF post but is officially supporting Dahlan Al Hamad because he knows his intellectual capabilities and knows he will add a great deal to athletics. Konstabolos said Dahlan Al Hamad is the right man for the post of vice-president because he has the capacity for change and development, noting at the same time that he and his friends from various European federations would support Dahlan Al Hamad and stand by him until he succeeds, out of confidence in the man’s abilities
and his service to Asian and world athletics, noting that Al Hamad is among the most understanding members with the greatest capacity for development, and that he had worked with him at many championships. Konstabolos affirmed that the current elections are being held for the first time under somewhat unusual circumstances, with the world awaiting the new IAAF president, the most important sports federation in the world, and with the International Olympic Committee also watching these elections for the sake of development and change in the sport’s future, especially given the recent talk about doping and cases that have been caught, meaning the athletics federation must always focus on those who benefit the sport and add more to it
rather than thinking about who can gather the most votes. Fierce battle between Kalkaba and Kiplagat, two candidates from the African continent for one post, after Cameroon’s Hamad Kalkaba, president of the African Athletics Confederation, and Kenya’s Isaiah Kiplagat both announced their candidacy for the post of IAAF vice-president, causing great concern among members of the African federations, fearing the continent’s votes would be split between the two and neither would win, turning the campaign process into attempts at mediation to have one of them withdraw in order to guarantee the continent’s representation in the major post, especially as Africa has 54 votes in the elections. Kalkaba, recently elected president of the
African Athletics Confederation, relies on strong backing from the majority of the continent’s federations, while Kiplagat relies on Kenya’s history of winning Olympic and world medals across all disciplines, and the matter is expected to lead to a fierce African contest between the two in the elections on 19 August. Six Arab candidates in the IAAF elections. The elections for the IAAF executive board will see the presence of six Arab candidates for various posts, starting with the post of vice-president and then executive board membership. The Arab members, in order, are Dahlan Al Hamad, Ahmed Al Kamali of the UAE, Prince Nawaf bin Mohammed of Saudi Arabia, Ammar Bouras of
Algeria, Fathi Hachicha of Tunisia and Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco, with Arab representation on the federation expected to increase through the various committees, with Sudan’s Mustafa Abbadi and Siddiq Ahmed Ibrahim also joining. China has decked itself out for the great event at the ‘Bird’s Nest.’ Away from the elections being held in China, the capital Beijing has prepared for the great global event, the 15th edition of the World Athletics Championships, in distinctive fashion, with all the streets of Beijing decorated with flags and championship logos, with competition to be hosted at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, which also hosted the 2008 Olympic Games. China began decorating the streets with flags as though it were
hosting the event for the first time, with the number of volunteers at the championships reaching into the thousands to help make the sport a success, while the championships, which run from the 22nd to the 30th of this month, will see the largest number of athletes taking part, expected to be more than 2,000 athletes across the various events, while coverage is expected from up to ten thousand media personnel from around the world, making this a different edition from previous championships, especially as it coincides with the new shape of the IAAF.
