President Diack receives Oscar de l'Excellence (© Oumar Ba)
In a ceremony held today in Dakar, Senegal, Lamine Diack the President of the IAAF was honoured by the conferment of a prestigious Senegalese State decoration, “L’Oscar de l’Excellence et du Mérite”.
The award was presented to Diack by the President of the Republic of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, in the presence of the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly and members of the dimplomatic corps.
Also receiving recognition at the ceremony was Kène Ndoye of Senegal, who was given her award of 'Lionne d'Or' - Golden Lionness' for her performances at the recent Afroican Championships, where she won the Long Jump title and took silver in the Triple Jump. She is Senegal's strongest medal hope for the forthcoming Olympics.
Lamine Diack was nominated for the award, by the Jury ‘Lion d’Or’, with respect to the year of 2003.
Particular mention was made by the Jury in its nomination of Lamine Diack’s re-election in 2003 as IAAF President, and of his exemplary 33 year tenure of the Presidency of the African Athletic Confederation, a position which he relinquished last year.
Attention was also drawn to the President’s efforts to modernize and democratize the IAAF, the implementation of the Athletics’ World Plan, and his encouragement of, and efforts made towards the promotion and increased televised coverage of Africa’s best meetings.
Other award recipients attending the ceremony were Amy Mbacké Thiam (bronze medallist over 400m in Paris 2003), Amadou Dia Ba (Olympic silver medallist 400m Hurdles in 1988 - andDirector of the IAAF Regional Development Centre in Dakar) and Ndiss Kaba Badji (Silver medal in the Long Jump at the African Championships).
IAAF
