Wednesday, August 24, 2011

IAAF Congress Day 1 – Daegu 2011

Daegu, Korea – The IAAF Press conference for the 48th IAAF Congress and the 13th edition of the IAAF World Championships which is taking place in the Congress Hall at the EXCO Convention Centre in Daegu.

The press conference was hosted by IAAF President Lamine Diack who was joined by Hae-Nyoung Cho, co-President of the Daegu 2011 Local Organising Committee (LOC); Dong-Hoo Moon, Vice-President and Secretary General of the LOC; IAAF General Secretary Pierre Weiss; and Deputy General Secretary Nick Davies.

The press conference was held at the end of the first of two days of Congress with proceedings delayed due to the technical malfunction of the electronic voting system of the IAAF Elections, which by Constitution take place every four years. As a consequence only two of the votes were decided today, with the remaining elections to continue on tomorrow (25):

Election Results – President

President Lamine Diack (SEN), unopposed:

Total Votes: 201 - Total Invalid: 3 - Absolute Majority: 101

NO - 29

YES (MAJORITY) - 169

Election Results – Vice Presidents

The four seats up for election were decided in the first round of voting.

Total Votes: 201 - Total Invalid: 2 - Absolute Majority: 101

AL-HAMAD Dahlan (QAT) ELECTED 171

BUBKA Sergey (UKR) ELECTED 159

COE Sebastian (GBR) ELECTED 169

HERSH Robert (USA) ELECTED 175

HOFFMAN Abby (CAN) 122

President pleased with Championships preparations

President Diack welcomed the assembled media, looking forward to what will be the biggest sporting championships in the world in 2011.

“We’re bringing together athletes from more than 200 countries and we’re expecting to see some fantastic results.”

“The sporting facilities are world class and are ready. The athletes and officials are saying that they’re the best they ever seen at our World Championships… We can only hope that the ‘authorities’ up above will help with the (weather) conditions.”

“This is third time that the IAAF World Championships have been in Asia (Tokyo 1991, Osaka 2007) and offers us opportunities to promote and develop athletics in Korea and Asia.”

Speaking specifically of Korean hopes for medals, President Diack said: “It’s true that none can be considered favourites in their events, but competing with the world’s best is an experience they can build upon.”

Further information about the discussions and decisions of the first day of Congress will follow tomorrow (25) along with the remaining election news.

IAAF