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Monte Carlowith a globehopping tour from Oceania to Asia, the IAAF Evaluation team has now completed its on-site evaluation of candidates for the 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Championships in Athletics by visiting Brisbane, the capital of Australia’s State of Queensland, and Daegu, a thriving metropolis in the Republic of South Korea.
On his return to Europe today, IAAF Vice-President Helmut Digel summarized his impressions of his team’s mission, which included visits to the two other candidates Moscow and Barcelona last month: “After visiting four world class cities, I believe that the IAAF is in a fortunate position. There is no doubt that each city is capable of organizing an excellent edition of the World Championships."
"We have been with well prepared teams, strongly supported by political and business leaders, who demonstrated the positive aspects of their respective bids, not only by showing us physical components such as stadiums, hotels and congress buildings but also their great enthusiasm for the challenge of organizing the best ever edition of the IAAF World Championships."
"The evaluation team will now prepare a written report, since our mission is to help my colleagues on the IAAF Council, make a well informed choice of host cities on 27 March, in Mombasa.”
The Evaluation team also included IAAF Council Members Cesar Moreno Bravo (MEX) and Nawal El Moutawakel (MAR), IAAF General Director Pierre Weiss, Communications Director Nick Davies, Project Manager Rosie Pili as well as Hiro Kuwabara and Stephan Brubacher representing IAAF Marketing Partner Dentsu and their agents AMS.
The team arrived in Brisbane early on Monday 19 February, after an overnight flight from Osaka, and traveled back over the Pacific Ocean to Daegu, on Wednesday, February 22. Both cities are willing to host either the 2011 or 2013 editions (Barcelona is the only candidate who is bidding just for 2013).
Following the pattern established in the first part of the Evaluation tour, the team visited the Main Stadium, training/warm up venues, IAAF Congress venue and IAAF Family hotels, during the two-day visit, but in both Brisbane and Daegu, there was no opportunity to visit any Athletes’ hotels, normally a crucial part of the evaluation, for the simple reason that both cities plan to construct Athletes Villages, close by the main competition venues, which will be converted for public use once the Championships are over.
The evaluation team concluded each visit with a formal meeting to discuss each city’s bid in detail, and offered constructive advice to help the bidders make the best possible impression with their final presentations to the IAAF Council in Mombasa next month.
Amongst the key areas examined were:
• Stadium and surrounding facilities
• Broadcasting
• Support of Public Institutions
• Athletes Accommodation
• Accommodation of IAAF Family
• Marketing and Promotions (Full stadium)
• Transportation
• Technical organization of the competition
• Anti-Doping and Medical
• IAAF Congress
• Security
• Communications and Media Services
• Innovation
• Added Value
The 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics will be held in Osaka, Japan in 2007, and the 12th edition of the championships will be hosted by Berlin, Germany in 2009.
IAAF
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