2011 IAAF world championships to kick off Saturday

The biggest sports event on the planet in 2011, the 13th edition of the IAAF World Championships begins Saturday in Daegu in South Korea, with nine days of competition running from Saturday 27 August to Sunday 4 September 2011 inclusive. The list of impressive statistics from the last IAAF World Championships held two years ago in Berlin, Germany, confirms the magnitude of this event – 2000 athletes from over 200 national teams, 10,500 officials and volunteers, 4000 media representatives, 500,000 spectators, an accumulative total of 8 Billion TV Viewers world-wide, more than US$7 Million in prize money, and a $80 Million economic impact to the host city. The IAAF Athletics'' World Plan was launched by the IAAF President Lamine Diack in 2003 at the 44th IAAF Congress in Paris, France. The Plan aims to provide guidance for all those working to further develop and grow the sport of Athletics. The IAAF Press conference for the 48th IAAF Congress and the 13th edition of the IAAF World Championships which was taking place in the Congress Hall at the EXCO Convention Centre in Daegu was hosted by IAAF President Lamine Diack who was joined by Hae-Nyoung Cho, co-President of the Daegu 2011 Local Organising Committee (LOC); Dong-Hoo Moon, Vice-President and Secretary General of the LOC; IAAF General Secretary Pierre Weiss; and Deputy General Secretary Nick Davies. The press conference was held at the end of the first of two days of Congress (24) with proceedings delayed due to the technical malfunction of the electronic voting system of the IAAF Elections, which by Constitution take place every four years. As a result the election process was not fully completed with the remaining elections to be decided during tomorrow''s (25) second day of Congress. President Diack welcomed the assembled media, looking forward to what will be the biggest sporting championships in the world in 2011. Qatar''s Dahlan Jumman Al Hamad retained his Vice President’s post in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council here yesterday with more votes than Sebastian Coe of the Great Britain. Prominent Qatari athletes will represent the country in the event including Mutaz Issa, Femi Seun, Hamza Draiwish and Abobakar Kamal.