Posted: May 4, 2005

Athletics: IAAF World Athletics Day 2005

4 May 2005:

Monte-Carlo - The IAAF’s annual worldwide festival of youth, one of the busiest weekends in the annual Athletics calendar, takes place this coming Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 May, when 157 IAAF Member Federations take part in the IAAF World Athletics Day 2005.

This annual promotion of Athletics for Youth, which was inaugurated in 1996 remains as popular as ever, with the number of Federations organising national youth competitions this year, the second largest ever.

There is a deadline of 31 May for all the results from this weekend’s youth competitions to be received by the IAAF, and after that date twelve lucky youngsters - born in the years 1988 and 1989 - consisting of one boy and one girl from each of the six Areas - Africa, Asia, Europe, NACAC, Oceania, South America - will be selected at the official World Athletics Day draw (date and venue tbc), and will be invited to attend the 4th IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics in Marrakech, Morocco, which will take place 13-17 July 2005.

These 12 youngsters will be joined in Marrakech by those fortunate children who were picked from the results received from the IAAF World Athletics Day 2004, the draw for which took place last summer (19 July) during the IAAF Council meeting at the World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy. At that time Council Members Sergey Bubka (UKR) and Nawal El Moutawakel (MAR) both former Olympic champions, did the honours by drawing out the 12 names, of which 9 are available to travel to Marrakech.

Yet it is not just these selected athletes who gain from the experience, as thousands of gifts such as T-Shirts, posters and pins are distributed to each competing Member Federation, with an IAAF World Athletics Day Diploma presented to all participants, helping to encourage enthusiasm for Athletics, the world’s most international sport.

The list of the 12 names announced at the Draw in 2004 -

Girls
Africa: Emmanuella Oroma (UGA) Long Jump 5.01m
Asia: Loh Yanni (SIN) 1500m 5:07.00
Consudatle: Daiana Aturzt (ARG) 100mh 15.75
Europe: Alina Duman (ROM) 100m 12:00
NACAC: Shanique Albury (BAH) 800m 2:25.29
Oceania: Melanie Budareika (AUS) 800m 2:31.10
       
Boys
Africa: Fred Mwelwa (ZAM) 1500m 4:10.60
Asia: Abdulaziz Mohamed Alkuwari (QAT) 100m 11.42
Consudatle: David Rodriguez (PAN) 1500m 4:17.58
Europe: Pavelas Velicko (LTU) 5kW 21:51.60
NACAC: Brandt Fralick (CAN) 100m 10.70
Oceania: Adam Welsh (PYF) 200m 22.77