Athens Super Grand Prix Downgraded

MONTE CARLO, MON -- Edinburgh has been selected to host the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the sport,s world governing body announced today at the second and final day of the IAAF Council Meeting in Monte Carlo.

The event, scheduled for Sunday, March 30, will be staged at Holyrood Park at the same venue which hosted the 2003 European Cross Country Championships. Scotland last hosted the event in Glasgow in 1978 when Norway's running legend Grete Waitz won the first of her five world titles.

,,Having staged the best ever World Indoor Championships in Birmingham and the best ever European Cross Country in Edinburgh in 2003,o/oo said UK Athletics chief executive Dave Moorcroft, ,,the challenge is now set for Edinburgh to host the best ever World Cross Country, 30 years after the event was last in Scotland.o/oo

Council also reported some shifts in the status of meetings. The Tsiklitiria Super Grand Prix meeting, the premiere annual one-day meeting in the Greek capital, has been downgraded to Grand Prix status, in part due to its poor attendance last July.

,,There were several failings, not just one,o/oo said IAAF General Secretary Pierre Weiss.

Despite a spate of world-leading performances on the track, the stands of the 2004 Olympic venue were virtually empty at July,s competition, prompting the decision to be made. Empty seats, Weiss said, are not something the IAAF wants to see at one of its six Super Grand Prix events. ,,We have to think of the image a spectator sees on television.o/oo

Weiss also confirmed that the annual Helsinki Grand Prix will not be held in 2007, but that continental meetings in New York, Carson, Calif., and Rethymno, Greece, have applied to be promoted to the Grand Prix level. Their status will be decided in December.

The IAAF also reported its latest doping control figures for tests conducted through 23 October. Of the 2,347 tests conducted thus far in 2006 --1,222 in competition and 1,085 out-of-competition-- 39 resulted in positive findings. No positive tests emerged from recent major global competitions ^August,s World Junior Championships in Beijing, September,s World Cup in Athens and October,s World Road Running Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. However, Weiss said that one positive test did emerge from September,s World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, but wouldn,t confirm the athlete,s name.

,,It will be announced shortly,o/oo he said.

The IAAF Athletes Commission unanimously supported the international federation,s stance in increasing the penalty for a first doping offense from two years to four years. The IAAF is expected to make the proposal next November when the World Anti-Doping Agency will review its anti-doping code.

Other major decisions announced included:

-- The current Cross Country and Road Running Committee will be restructured and split in two: the Cross Country Committee and the Road Running Commission. Members of the current Road Running Working Group will form the initial membership of the newly-created commission.

-- The Council also agreed to accept a request from the International Olympic Committee to change the date of the 2008 Olympic women's marathon from Friday, 15 August to Sunday 17 August. The proposed start time in 7:30 a.m.

-- The 2008 World Youth Championships will be held in Bressanone, Italy, July 8-12.

(c) 2006 TRACK PROFILE Report, all rights reserved