Russia hopes the decision will boost its bid to host the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Justin Gatlin of the United States is seen at the Moscow Challenge athletics event in the Russian capital in 2003.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Moscow to Host 2013 Athletics Worlds
Moscow was awarded the 2013 athletics World Championships on Tuesday. The competition is a major sports event, second only to the Olympic Games and the World Cup. Russia hopes the decision will boost its bid to host the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
Moscow have been selected to host the 2013 athletics world championships, the IAFF announced at a meeting Mombasa, Kenya, on Tuesday. Moscow also bid to host the 2011 world championships but Korea’s Daegu was selected. The other candidates were Catalan city Barcelona and Brisbane in Australia.
Valentin Balakhnichev, president of the Russian Athletics Federation, says Moscow is fully prepared for the event with the IAFF-approved Luzhniki stadium which needs only minor revamping. Dmitry Tugarin, an aide to the Russian sports agency chief Vyacheslav Fetisov, also noted that IAFF members were impressed by financial and organization guarantees from the Russian government.
Russian bidders were hoping to win the campaign for the 2011 world championships, but apparently the IAFF carried out its pledge to hold competitions on different continents, Mr. Balakhnichev said in an interview with Kommersant. The 2009 world forum was earlier selected to be held in Berlin.
World Championships also tend to indicate the IAFF’s interest and trust to hosting countries. In 1991, 1997 and 2001, Japan, Greece and the United States, respectively, were selected to host the event to go on to be awarded the Olympics.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, director general of the Sochi 2014 bid committee, would not link the selection of Moscow with Sochi’s prospects to host the Games. He said, however, he hopes the athletics world championships will be “a kind of run-up to the 2014 Olympic Games”.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 28, 2007
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