World Indoor
Championships marks New Era for Athletics
March
6 1997
With a record
number of 733 athletes competing from a total of
125 nations, the World Indoor Championships which
start in the Palais Omnisports Stadium in Bercy,
Paris tomorrow promise to be the most exciting
edition ever.
In a televised
satellite link-up between Lausanne, where Dr
Nebiolo is attending the IOC meetings for the
selection of the short list of five possible host
countries for the 2004 Olympics, and Paris on the
eve of the 6th IAAF World Indoor
Championships, Dr Nebiolo asserted his conviction
that the introduction of competition awards for
athletes gaining first, second or third places in
their events would constitute a major stimulus
for the sport and provide a just recompense for
the years of hard training and sacrifice required
to achieve international competition levels.
 One sure thing is that this
6th edition has attracted the highest
number of participating countries and athletes in
the history of the World Indoor Championships. In
1995, Barcelona drew 602 athletes - in itself a
record - but this number pales besides the record
participation in Paris and the extremely high
competitive level of the athletes attending.
 To cite but a few - all of
whom attended the conference with the IAAF
President - Charles Austin (USA) Olympic high
jump gold in Atlanta; Jamie Baulch (GBR) 4x400m
silver medallist in Atlanta;Gail Devers (USA)
100m gold medallist in Atlanta; Haile
Gebrselassie (ETH) 10,000m gold in Atlanta;
Patricia Girard-Leno (FRA), ’96 60m hurdles
indoors champion and Olympic bronze in 100m
hurdles; Wilson Kipketer (DEN) excluded from
Atlanta Olympics but unbeaten in ‘96 in 800m
and a world record possible; Stefka Kostadinova
(BUL) Olympic gold in high jump and world record
holder; Iván Pedroso (CUB) ’95 world long
jump champion outdoors; Irina Privalova (RUS)
world indoor record breaker at 50m/60m in 1995
and Aliacer Urrutia (CUB) this season’s
revelation in the triple jump.
One further
incentive for all of the athletes participating
in Paris will be the new Record Awards Programme
set up  by the IAAF with the
support of sponsors Mita and TDK and which will
be entirely supported by Mita during the World
Indoors. Thanks to this programme, athletes
establishing new world records during the
Championships will be entitled to a $50,000
dollar Record Award on top of the $50,000 for the
first place in individual competitions. Says Gail
Devers " It will help our sport grow. With
the prize money, people know we will perform
well…. The athletes of today have paved the
way for the young athletes".
For his part, Dr
Nebiolo is convinced that the possibility of
earning these awards will be a major
stimulus:" I hope that the sponsor who put
up the prize money for the world records will
cry…. Because I think that there will be
many world records". However, he went on to
reaffirm the IAAF’s tough stance on cheating
in the sport and to present the first of the IAAF
Elite Athletes Club Card to Gail Devers. This
card, which is a demonstration of the
athlete’s conformity to IAAF Rules regarding
substance abuse in Athletics, is "a major
reform in the fight against doping and reaffirms
the ethical values of Athletics". Only
athletes who have satisfied the requirement of
two out of competition, unannounced doping tests
in the 12 months before the event will be
eligible for the Competition Awards and Record
Awards programmes.
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Back
IAAF President Primo Nebiolo’s
television link-up between Lausanne and Paris
sets the scene for new era in Athletics and
launches most exciting World Indoor Championships
ever.
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