IAAF Hall of Fame Logo (© IAAF)
At today’s Press Conference on the eve of the 14th edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships, Istanbul 2012 (9-11 March), President Lamine Diack announced the creation of the IAAF Hall of Fame.
To coincide with this announcement a dedicated IAAF Hall of Fame website has been opened: http://www.iaaf.org/mini/hof/Index.aspx
“As part of the celebrations to mark to the Centennial Year of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the IAAF is proud to announce the inauguration of the IAAF Hall of Fame in 2012,” confirmed President Diack.
“The creation of the IAAF Hall of Fame which has long been a vision of the sport’s world governing body is an excellent way not only to honour the lifetime achievements of our greatest athletes, but also to heighten public awareness of our sport and its rich history.”
Click here to read full version of the President’s message.
Membership of the Hall of Fame
To give the Hall of Fame the required stature the IAAF has established very strict requirements for an athlete to even qualify to be considered for membership:
1) Athletes must have won at least two Olympic or World Championships gold medals AND at set least one World record,
2) Athletes must have been retired for at least 10 years at the time of election to the IAAF Hall of Fame
To administer the process of which athletes will be honoured with induction as Members an IAAF Hall of Fame Selection Panel has been created, which is composed of renowned athletics experts who are long-standing members of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS).
Click here to download full Information about Membership Criteria (pdf)
24 inaugural Members to be inducted in 2012
To mark the IAAF Centenary, a total of 24 athletes will become the inaugural Members of the IAAF Hall of Fame in 2012, with the Official Induction Ceremony taking place at the IAAF Centenary Gala in Barcelona on Saturday 24 November 2012.
These 24 athletes will represent all IAAF Areas and include all major event groups (sprint, middle distance, long distance, hurdles, jumps, throws, combined events, race walk, and road running).
The first 12 athletes are announced today on the eve of the IAAF World Indoor Championships. The remaining 12 names will be made public between now and the IAAF Centenary Gala in a series of announcements to coincide with important Centennial events including the actual day of the IAAF Centenary (Tue 17 Jul) and the traditional IAAF Dinner (Thu 2 Aug) in London on the eve of the start of the Olympic Athletics programme.
The first 12 inaugural Members are:
Jesse Owens (USA)
1936 100/200/LJ + WR 100, 200 & LJ (25 years)
Abebe Bikila (ETH)
1960, 1964 Oly MAR + WR
Paavo Nurmi (FIN)
1920 10,000, 1924 1500/5000 & 1928 10,000 + WR 1500, Mile, 3000, 5000 & 10,000
Carl Lewis (USA)
1984 100/200/LJ & 1988/1992/1996 LJ + WR 100 + 5 world titles
Emil Zátopek (TCH)
1948 10,000 & 1952 5000/10,000/Mar + WR 5000 & 10,000
Al Oerter (USA)
1956/1960/1964/1968 DT + WR DT
Adhemar da Silva (BRA)
1952/1956 TJ + WR TJ
Ed Moses (USA)
1976/1984 400H + WR 400H (16 years) + 2 world titles
Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED)
1948 100/200/80H + WR 100, 80H, HJ, LJ & Pen
Betty Cuthbert (AUS)
1956 100/200 & 1964 400 + WR 200
Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)
1988 LJ/Hep & 1992 Hep + WR LJ & Hep (25 years as at 7.7.2011) + 4 world titles
Wang Junxia (CHN)
1996 Oly 5000 & 93 World 10,000 + WR 3000 (18 years as at 12.9.2011) & 10,000 (18 years as at 8.9.2011)
Click here to go to the Members’ section of the IAAF Hall of Fame website to read full profiles of each member.
IAAF