Foreword
 by Dr Primo Nebiolo
President of the
International Amateur Athletic Federation
France, a founding father of the modern sports
movement and always prominent during its
evolution, has not fallen prey to complacency.
Instead, its great sportsmen and women, who were
so successful in the 1997 Atlanta Olympic Games,
and the intelligent policies of its sports
administrators enable French sport to continue to
flourish.
But France also has an
organisational flair for great sports events,
like the annual Tour de France, which will be put
to good use between March 7 and 9 1997 for the
6th edition of the IAAF World Indoor
Championships in Paris and the following year
when France hosts the football World Cup in an
extraordinary new national stadium currently
being constructed in Paris.
But first the capital will
resound to the enthusiastic cries of athletics
lovers who will pack the famous indoor arena of
Bercy for the World Indoor Championships. Indoor
athletics, where athletes and audience are so
close to each other, provides a loud and
colourful spectacle. In the heart of a chilly
winter it is wonderful to be able to see the
world’s top performers produce an
extraordinary show. Under spotlights, track and
field has a chance to show its all-year-round
appeal. 130 national federations and 602 athletes
took part in the last edition of this
Championships in Barcelona and I hope these
figures can be increased in Paris.
Athletics proved its
massive popularity in Atlanta where approximately
1,250,000 tickets were sold for the nine days of
athletics competition. Along with fellow members
of the Athletics Family I am excited about the
future of our sport. It remains for me to wish my
colleagues at the French Athletics Federation the
best of luck and to look forward to a tremendous
competition.
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Indoor athletics, where athletes and
audience are so close to each other, provides a
loud and colourful spectacle.
Athletics
proved its massive popularity in Atlanta where approximately 1,250,000
tickets were sold for the nine days of athletics
competition.
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