IAAF council meeting held in Beijing

Beijing, Aug 17, 2015: IAAF President Lamine Diack and his Council colleagues this morning welcomed the Mayor of Beijing Wang Anshun at the start of the 199th IAAF Council Meeting which was held today (17) at the Intercontinental Beijing Beichen.

Also welcomed by the IAAF Council were the Vice President of the Chinese Olympic Committee Gao Zhidan and the Director of Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office Zhao Huimin.

Mayor Anshun, President of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015, and Zhidan, Executive President of the LOC, delivered welcoming addresses on behalf of the host city of the congress (19/20) and the World Championships (22-30) offering their best wishes for the work of the council and the congress this week.

“This is an important Council meeting for all of us,” stated president Diack in his welcoming address, “as it comes in the week of our 50th IAAF Congress and heralds the arrival of a new president who has the task to build the future of our sport. I am all the more confident of what we have in store as neither of the candidates will find themselves in an unfamiliar environment. I have laid the foundations for the future of the IAAF with our two great champions… whoever the IAAF athletics family elects he will be a bona fide son of our sport.”

General Secretary
President Diack informed the Council that General Secretary Essar Gabriel, who in 2011 had signed a four-year contract with the IAAF up until October 2015, had taken the decision last June not to seek a new contract. President Diack warmly thanked Essar Gabriel for his contribution to the work of the IAAF and wished him the very best for the future.

Elections
Voting in the IAAF elections which take place on the first day of the 50th Congress (19) will be electronic (backed up by a manual system).

World Championships Progress Report
The LOC of the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 delivered their final progress report to Council. The delegation was composed of Zhang Jiandong, Vice Mayor of Beijing & LOC Executive President, Du Zhaocai, CAA General Secretary & LOC Vice President, Chen Jie, LOC Executive General Secretary, Shen Chunde, LOC Executive Vice General Secretary and Mrs. Xiang Ping, LOC Vice General Secretary.

IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 – facts and figures
– 300 LOC staff members have moved into the Bird’s Nest since beginning of August
– 2800 volunteers recruited
– 202 Toyota cars
– 1.116 million bottles of Zhouma Spring water
– 5300 sets of adidas clothing
– 7500 welcome packs
– Advertising:
– 7000 LED screens in buildings
– 21 Outdoor billboards in downtown and airport
– 1000 flags and banners hung in downtown and neighbourhoods, airport, stadiums and main road sections
– Opening Ceremony 17:00 – 17:45, 22 August
– 1,800 performers and protocol staff
– 2 rehearsals held 11 and 13 August
– Host Broadcaster (CCTV)
– Broadcast vehicles
– 113 cameras
– Environment protection
– The Governments of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding areas have joined efforts to curb air pollution
– 2 coal-fired thermal power stations have been shut down, reducing a consumption of 4.6 million tons of coal per year
– 178,000 old motor vehicles have been taken off the road
– 8,800 diesel fuel buses have been upgraded

COUNCIL DECISIONS

Competitions 2016 Calendars
Council approved the following calendars for 2016:
– IAAF World Challenge
– IAAF Combined Events Challenge
– IAAF Race Walking Challenge

World Athletics Series
– IAAF World Junior Championships, Kazan, Russia – 19-24 July 2016

Council approved the timetable and entry standards
– IAAF World Indoor Championships, Birmingham 2018

Council approved the dates: 2-4 March 2018

Olympic Games
– Olympic Games – Rio 2016

The IAAF has approved the move of the race walking venue from Flamingo Park to Pontal
– Youth Olympic Games – Buenos Aires 2018

The IOC Executive Board has approved the inclusion of a cross-country event as proposed by the IAAF

World Athletics Series Renovation
The last item on today’s agenda was the important and extensive work of preparing the IAAF World Athletics Series (WAS) of events for the future, with the WAS Renovation final report delivered to Council by Senior Vice President Bob Hersh.

In September 2014, the IAAF held a two-day workshop to evaluate the WAS and make recommendations as how their appeal might be enhanced (in line with Objective 6.2 in the IAAF Strategic Plan for 2013-2016).

As a result of the workshop, over 40 different themes were identified to address these challenges and prepare the WAS for the future. The themes were detailed in a report delivered to the IAAF Council in November 2014.

The IAAF then set up four temporary working teams in early 2015 to explore subsets of these themes in more detail and develop specific recommendations: Team 1 – “Series strategy”; Team 2 – “Inside the stadium”; Team 3 – “Media and promotions”; Team 4 – “Out of stadium endurance”.

Their conclusions were delivered in today’s report and the work will be handed over and continued by the new Council which will be elected this week in Beijing. —- IAAF

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