IAAF World Athletics Day 2004 poster (© c)
MonteCarloOne of the busiest weekends in the annual Athletics calendar takes place this coming Saturday and Sunday, 8 - 9 May, when 161 of the IAAF’s Member Federations will take part in the IAAF World Athletics Day 2004.
This annual promotion of Athletics for Youth, which was inaugurated in 1996 is more popular than ever, with a sizeable increase in the number of Federations organising national youth competitions, from the 153 participating nations in 2002.
Once all the results from this weekend’s youth competitions are received from each Federation, twelve lucky youngsters - born in the years 1987 and 1988 - consisting of one boy and one girl from each of the six Areas - Africa, Asia, Europe, NACAC, Oceania, South America - will be selected at the official World Athletics Day draw (date and venue tbc), and will be invited to attend the 4th IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics in Marrakech, Morocco, which will take place 14 – 17 July 2005.
Given that the World Youth Championships are being held next year, the 12 selected youngsters from this year will also be joined in Marrakech by another 12 children selected from the results received from the IAAF World Athletics Day 2005.
Yet it is not just these 24 selected athletes who gain from the experience, as thousands of gifts such as T-Shirts, posters and pins are distributed to each competing Member Federation, with an IAAF World Athletics Day Diploma presented to all participants, helping to encourage enthusiasm for Athletics, the world’s most international sport.
There is also a Poster competition, in which all the participating Member Federations are being asked to encourage their youngsters to create a new design for a logo to promote the 2005 World Athletics Day.
Past Achievers
Many IAAF World Athletics Day winners have already gone on to achieve promising marks in world athletics.
One of the original winning participants in the inaugural year of the IAAF World Athletics Day, Nathanial Esprit from the Netherlands Antilles, who is now 26 years of age, came fourth in the 200m at the 1998 CAC Games, reached the quarter-final stage of the 100m at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, and is national record holder for 100m with a best of 10.20.
There has also been long distance running success for Pacifique Ayubusa of Rwanda who took part in the 1997 World Athletics Day. A regular performer at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in the late 1990s, Ayubusa led home the Rwandan men’s short course team to 15th place at the 2002 championships in Dublin, taking a creditable individual finish in 38th position, out of a total of 124 starters.
Viktoriya Brigadnaya, from the ‘class’ of 1999 is approaching the top echelons of women’s triple jumping, having competed in two World Championships and the Sydney Olympics, she is national record holder in Turkmenistan with a 14.02m performance which she set in 2001.
Perhaps the most successful so far has been Croatia's 2001 World Athletics Day winner Ivana Brkljacic. She was eighth at the Hammer in the senior World Championships in Edmonton that same year, and was crowned 2002 World Junior champion in Kingston. In 2004, the 21 year-old is already in superb form having set a new national senior record on 68.99m (24 April) in Zagreb.
More recently one of the 2002 winners, Lavern Spencer from Saint Lucia competed at the 2003 CARIFTA Games in Trinidad, and took the silver medal in the junior women’s High Jump. Her 1.86m clearance was enough to set the national senior, as well as junior record! Later in the season she went on to take another silver medal in the Pan American Junior Championships, and then a very creditable fifth place in the Pan American Games.
These are just some of the success stories to have emerged from the first eight years of the IAAF World Athletics Day, and we are sure to discover many more talents during the next two years of this unique worldwide youth celebration.
The IAAF World Athletics Day 2003 winners
Boys
Africa: Japhet MATATA (KEN) 1986 - 200m
Asia: Dovran AGALIYEV (TKM) 1986 - Long Jump
Europe: David DANIELYAN (ARM) 1987 - 100m
NACAC: Rubinet KOKO (AHO) 1986 - 100m
Oceania: Andrew TAUTU (COK) 1987 - Discus
S. America: Moises HIDALGO (VEN) 1988 - 110mH
Girls
Africa: Lomba MALASI (COD) 1986 -100m
Asia: Gulnara KEMALOVA (TKM) 1987 - Triple Jump
Europe: Anna BEZLINSKAIA (MDA) 1986 - 100mH
NACAC: Taryn CASEY (CAN) 1987 - 200m
Oceania: Tere TUPUNA (COK) 1986 - Discus
S. America: Jackeline CARABALI (VEN) 1986 - 100m
IAAF
