Oslo - Svein Arne Hansen (© c)
Svein Arne Hansen is busy. It is the day before the ExxonMobil Bislett Games, the first meeting in the 2007 IAAF Golden League, and the meeting director has a strawberry party to organise.
And besides, with some Americans missing their connecting flight in New York on Wednesday, there are some quick re-arrangements to be made, as well as overseeing the arrangements for the traditional get-together of athletes and media on the eve of one of Norway’s biggest annual sporting events.
Hansen has been working as meeting director at the Bislett Games for 22 years - and he worked alongside his predecessor, Arne Haukvik, on the meeting for several years before that - so any late changes he may have to accommodate he takes in his stride.
“There’s always some athlete or other who has a problem getting to Oslo,” he says, shrugging his big, bear-like shoulders. “Some Americans missed their connection flight, including Marcus Brunson, who is in the 100 metres, but its all OK now, we’ve sorted that out.”
Being the first meeting in the six-meeting, four-month-long chase for a share of the $1 million Jackpot is a mixed blessing for Hansen, whose Bislett meeting has the proud reputation of being a fast track for fast times, with a history of 52 World records, and including some famous nights for Norway’s great women runners, Grete Waitz and Ingrid Kristiansen.
“Of course, being the first meeting, nearly two months before the World Championships in Osaka, means we won’t get the same sort of results that the athletes will produce later in the season, when they are in better shape.
“And the World Championships are great for the meetings that come afterwards - they all get six or seven days’ promotion on television because of the World Championships.
“So for us, the date is a little problem: we have to fit in our date with the end of the football season. Selling the most expensive tickets is no longer a problem at all, because the meeting sponsors always want those. Exxon has more than 1000 guests tomorrow night.
“But I am not worried about selling the tickets. We have less than 2000 left to sell now, and they will all go before tomorrow night.
“The advantage of being the first meeting is that everyone is in contention in the Golden League. So there might be some upsets and surprises, but all of the biggest names in the sport come to Oslo because they want a chance of winning the Golden League.”
The complex and pressured role of being meeting director is about to get easier for Hansen. “Yes, it will be much easier next year, Steinar Hoen is going to take care of the elite athletes, which is good: he used to compete on the circuit, so knows all the people and all the meetings, he is young and very good, and he can afford it, too.
“You need to earn money to be able to afford to work on this meeting,” Hansen says. “Most of the people working on the Bislett Games are volunteers. I get a salary, a small salary. But I couldn’t afford to do it unless I had my very own business - I can earn in a couple of days in my business buying and selling postage stamps what I earn here.”
The old Bislett Stadium was always regarded as one of the world’s great sports venues, especially for distance running, and Hansen is optimistic that the 2007 Bislett Games will go some way towards returning to that traditional strength, perhaps even with another world record, and this from a Norwegian.
“The last 15 years of athletics have all been built around the sprints - even here in Norway. The old track had just six lanes and had very tight bends, and people always said that this helped make it good for middle and long distance running.
“At our press conference yesterday, Asafa Powell said that the new track is a very fast surface, and he was promising some very fast times in the 100m.
“But we have also gone back to the tradition, with the climax of the meeting the Dream Mile - we have all the best milers in the world: Augustine Choge, Craig Mottram, who ran a very good 2 Miles in America on Sunday, and Daniel Komen, who also ran very fast in his last race.
“Everyone still thinks of Bislett and thinks of Ovett and Coe and Cram. I think we can try to get the Mile back to that sort of level.
“We also have a very good men’s Javelin competition, which the Norwegian fans really love to watch, and all the best women’s High Jumpers and men’s Triple Jumpers are here, too, and Meseret Defar is promising a very fast time in the women’s 5000m.
“But we are hoping for a Junior World Record in the women’s Steeplechase, because we have a young Norwegian girl, Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal. She was second in the European Cross Country last year, but she has another two years in the age group, I think. She is just 16, but she is already faster than either Grete or Ingrid. She is a huge talent. We have high hopes for her.”
In a couple of hours, Grøvdal would be attending her first, traditional Oslo strawberry party, these days held at the city hall, where she would meet several of the visiting star athletes and a few from yesteryear, including Sergey Bubka and Steve Cram. So now Hansen had to go: he had some transport arrangements to check on.
Interview by Steven Downes for the IAAF
