Athletics Australia – News – Diack and Fildes front media in Melbourne

Lamine Diack, President of the IAAF, has today concluded his tour of Melbourne, with the former French long jump champion joining Athletics Australia President Rob Fildes OAM for a tour of the Athletics Australia head office and the new athletics facility at Albert Park.

Concluding his three-week Oceania tour in Australia after already venturing to New Zealand and Tahiti, Mr Diack last night joined Mr Fildes, members of the Athletics Australia Board of Directors, IOC Vice President Kevan Gosper AO and Chief Executive of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association Perry Crosswhite for dinner at the Sofitel Hotel.

“Mr Diack has been the President of the IAAF since November 1999, he is a remarkable person and a fantastic supporter of our sport here in Australia and internationally,” Mr Fildes said.

“Melbourne has been lucky enough to host an IAAF World Challenge meet for five years and with the support of both the President and the IAAF this totals an investment of $1.3 million US dollars.”

Addressing the media this morning, Mr Diack outlined his vision for athletics internationally with a focus on the participation of children vital for continuing success.

“For athletics to continue to grow we must continue to work with schools around the world to ensure the delivery of an athletics program for children of all ages,” Mr Diack said.

“Oceania, of which Australia is an active member, is acutely aware of this and I commend them for working to build programs that interact with primary school aged children and beyond.”

Also commenting on Australia’s bid to compete alongside Asian nations at the Asian Athletics Championships, Mr Diack expressed his support but stressed that Australia is an integral piece of the Oceania puzzle.

“Asia provides athletics with great opportunities internationally, and for Australia to compete at such a large event is also beneficial,” Mr Diack said.

“Australia, though, in the IAAF constitution is a member of Oceania and this will not change. Competition is okay but a complete transfer is not an option like in soccer.”

Reiterating Mr Diack’s sentiments, Mr Fildes will head to Kathmandu (NEP) next week to finalise Australia’s bid to compete at the regional championships which brings together almost half the world’s population.

“Only last week we attended the Oceania Athletics Association meeting on the Gold Coast and we will continue to be, perhaps even more so than before, an active member in our region,” Mr Fildes said.

“Our desire to compete at the Asian Athletics Championships is from a competition perspective only and the benefits that will provide are reward enough.

“The next competition is in Kobe, Japan only six weeks before the World Championships later this year and we would obviously love to be involved.”

Athletics Australia – News