Rio’s remarkable record week

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 20, 2016: The 206th IAAF Council Meeting was held today (20) and was chaired by IAAF President Sebastian Coe, who summed up a week of outstanding performances in the Olympic Stadium and on the roads of Rio de Janeiro.

Three world records and the triple triple
The athletics programme of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was contested by 200 teams, 199 from National Olympic Committees, plus the Refugee team.

The past eight days was marked by three world records and further highlighted by Usain Bolt’s unique triple Olympic sprint treble. Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana’s 10,000m world record opened the first session, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk’s 400m run from lane eight so nearly upstaged Usain Bolt on 100m final night, while Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk improved her own hammer throw mark.

As of the end of competition on Friday (18), there have been eight Olympic, 10 area and 95 national records set at these Games.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe commented: “Rio’s remarkable record week of athletics has enthralled and entertained, capturing the global imagination. This has been world-class athletics at its finest. The mass chant of ‘Usain Bolt, Usain Bolt’ which reverberated around the Olympic stadium will echo for decades to come. Historians will not fail to make the comparison with the crowd lauding another legend in the 1952 Olympics with ‘Zatopek, Zatopek’!”

Huge increase in website traffic
As of the end of Thursday (18), the IAAF website – iaaf.org – had seen a huge increase in users and usage compared with the same period during London 2012 Olympic Games with 91% more website users and 58% more user sessions.

The first seven days of athletics in Rio has seen 45% more users and 20% more user sessions than in the entire 10 days of athletics at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Mobile usage is up 361% on London with 50% of IAAF website users now accessing the website via portable devices.

Level playing field

IAAF Council today discussed three key issues which concern the integrity of competition and established new working groups chaired by Council members to consider the existing rules which govern them.

Transfer of Allegiance
Chair: Hiroshi Yokokawa

Age Manipulation
Chair: Adille Sumariwalla

Performance / Results Manipulation
Chair: Bernard Amsalem

Transition
The IAAF’s new CEO Olivier Gers, whose appointment was announced on Wednesday (17) and will officially take office on 1 October, attended Council.

The arrival of Gers marks an important moment in the transition of the federation both in terms of its organisation structure and its governance. Council gave approval in Rio to the proposals for the IAAF Governance Structure Reform. This autumn IAAF teams headed by Sebastian Coe will be taking the proposals to all six areas ahead of a special IAAF Congress at the beginning of December.

The four key platforms of governance reform are:
– Redefining roles and responsibilities
– Greater athlete representation
– Establishing gender balance
– New tribunal and disciplinary processes

Russian reinstatement
The reinstatement of the Russian athletics federation is a priority. The IAAF Taskforce met in Rio (16) during the Games and hopes to resume discussions with the Russian Olympic Committee’s Interim Coordination Committee to establish a clean safe environment for its athletes so that its federation and team can return to international competition.

Competitions update
Council also made a number decisions related to IAAF World Athletics Series and IAAF Circuit competitions – Click Here. —- IAAF