London’s Olympic legacy is set to continue after the Olympic stadium was awarded the honour of hosting the 2017 World Athletics Championships Over Doha.
The bid, lead by Lord Sebastian Coe, achieved a total of 16 votes to the ten gained by the Qatari capital; challenging the critics who claimed the £537m Stratford stadium would become neglected after next summer’s games.
Friday’s presentation in Monaco also featured contributions from ‘Sports and Olympics’ Minister Hugh Robertson, London mayor Boris Johnson along with past and present GB athletes Denise Lewis and Jodie Williams.
Williams delivered the closing speech at the Fairmount Hotel to the council of the International Association of Athletics Federations, speaking of her dream to compete at the championships on her home turf:
"You can see the Olympic Stadium from where I train; it's what inspires me every day”.
The message from the 18-year-old world junior champion hoped to touch on the gender related issue regarding the middle-east competitors. Qatar has failed to ever select a woman for its Olympic team and wasn’t represented by a female athlete at this summer’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The promise to also fund a £250,000 training programme to increase the number of female technical officials in athletics globally has seemingly paid off and Miss Williams’ actions have been praised by UK Athletics chief executive, Niels de Vos. He said: “Jodie is a bright young woman. I believe she gave a very powerful message on our behalf.”
After England’s bitter defeat in the battle to stage the 2018 Football World Cup a year ago, the team put itself on the line to convince the 27 members of the IAAF that the purpose-built stadium was the perfect arena for the blue-ribboned event of track and field.
England star David Beckham was amongst the first to congratulate the London delegation, claiming it was “another great win for Seb and the team”.
Success is particularly sweet for UKA after their previous failed bids over the last decade. Most notably in 2005, Helsinki became a late replacement after the government's promise of a new north-London stadium was retracted.
Looking to the future, Boris Johnson said: "The Olympic Stadium now has a very, very clear destiny. It's going to be a multi-use, multi-sport stadium, a fantastic venue, that delivers not just football and pop music but in perpetuity a fantastic legacy for athletics."
London proposes to stage the event in late July/early August to avoid clashes with European and American football.
