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Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM |
The Golden Knights
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Prior to 1983 the Olympic Games was Athletics’ championships. A plan was set afoot to change this when under the presidency of the IAAF’s Adrian Paulen of the Netherlands the IAAF World Athletics Cup was held in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1977.
The World Cup consisted of teams from the world’s great powerhouses of athletics, at that time teams like the USA, Great Britain, East and West Germany, and the Soviet Union, plus The Americas (without the USA), Europe (without the powerhouses), Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania, etc.
That World Cup is now the Continental Cup.
Paulen also had the plan in motion for the IAAF World Championships in 1981 when he was replaced as president of the international body by Italy’s Primo Nebiolo.
Helsinki, the host of the 1952 Olympic Games was chosen to host the Inaugural IAAF World Championship andthey did not disappoint.
With Nebiolo in the seat the IAAF held the Inaugural IAAF World Junior Championships in Athens, Greece in 1986.
In 1987 the Inaugural IAAF World Indoor Championships was held in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The World Youth Championships for athletes under 18 was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland several months prior to Nebiolo’s death.
When president Nebiolo died in November of 1999 the sport was left with a rich legacy of competition.
He was replaced by Sr. Vice President LamineDiack of Senegal.
The Bahamas Connection
Diack accepted an invitation to attend the 2002 Carifta Games in The Bahamas and for him it was certainly an eye opener. He declared these Games the best junior competition in the world and hasmade an effort to attend them annually.
Relays Competition
Fast forward ten years later to 2012, Diack knew the popularity of relay competitions around the world and in IAAF competitions. The IAAF agreed to host the Inaugural World Relays Championships in the city he had seen young Usain Bolt ten years before, in the region of the world’s best sprinters.
Their newest championships came some twenty-five years after the introduction of the World Indoor Championships.
These IAAF World Relays will be hosted by The Bahamas in 2014 and 2015 and already nearly fifty nations have confirmed their attendance.
The Golden Girls
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The events to be contested are:
Men and Women
4x100m
4x200m
4x400m
4x800m
And
4x1500m.
They will be held over two afternoons, Saturday and Sunday, May 24th and 25th, in a short time span, just like the popular One Day international meetings.
Two incentives will be provided. Those teams who finish in the top eight will automatically qualify for next year’s Beijing World Championships and in 2015 the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Then there is the world record bonus in addition to the Prize money.
The host has also agreed to organize a national junior relay competition to be held earlier in the afternoon.
The Bahamas’ Athletic Tradition
At an exhibition by German athletics historian Michael Preisinger in Stuttgart during the World Championships in 1993 the Bahamas was fortunate to be invited to participate. It was held at City Hall.
Our exhibition was titled, The Bahamas, Small Country, Great Athletes. The Bahamas definitely had great athletes then, having won a Bronze medal at the Inaugural World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis in 1987 by Frank Rutherford in the Triple Jump, a Bronze medal at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Sudbury, by Eugene Greene in the Triple Jump, and a Bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, again in the Triple Jump by Frank Rutherford.
Since then the numbers have sky- rocketed with four Olympic Golds, seven World Outdoor Championships Gold, two World Junior Golds, three World Youth Championships Gold, and three World Indoor Golds.
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Hosting Competitions
Since the first Carifta Games hosted in 1976, The Bahamas has hosted six other Carifta Games, three Central American and Caribbean Age Group Championships, two Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships, the Pan American Junior Track and Field Championships and two Central American and Caribbean Senior Championships.
2014-The Year of Culture
The Bahamas is known by the friendliness of its people and its rich culture. This year has been dubbed “The Year of Culture” by the Bahamas Government.
The athletes, officials as well as fans will certainly be able to enjoy the culture of The Bahamas as well as the friendliness of Bahamians during the World Relays.
A New Day is Dawning
A new day is certainly dawning in world athletics. The world is excited about these Inaugural IAAF World Relays in The Bahamas on Saturday, May 24th and Sunday, May 25th.
The clock is ticking so we advise you to make your plans now to attend this inaugural event.
You won’t regret it.
President Adrian Paulen’s legacy was the World Athletic Cup and World Championships. Primo Nebiolo’s legacy was the World Junior Championships, World Indoor Championships, and World Youth Championships.
Lamine Diack’s legacy should be the World Relays.
A new day is dawning in world athletics.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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