Posted: November 29, 2005

Athletics: USATF News & Notes, Volume 6, Number 88

2006 Golden League Events announced

The IAAF announced Wednesday that there will be ten Golden League events contested at each of the six meetings in the 2006 series.

The 2006 IAAF Golden League will open in Oslo on June 2, and conclude in Berlin on September 3. In addition to the ten Golden League events, at least six other 'promotional' disciplines will be contested at each meeting. Justin Gatlin, Jeremy Wariner, Dwight Phillips, Lauryn Williams, Michelle Perry, Rashid Ramzi, Andrus Värnik, Tonique Williams-Darling, Tirunesh Dibaba, and Kajsa Bergqvist, were some of the stars of this summer's Helsinki World Championships, and they all have their chance to shine in next year's IAAF Golden League, as it is their specialist gold medal events which have been awarded Golden League status for 2006.

In a decision also designed to ensure parity, the 10 IAAF Golden League events are divided equally, five for men and five for women, as follows...

IAAF Golden League events in 2006:

Men: 100m, 400m, 1,500m, Long Jump, Javelin Throw
Women: 100m, 400m, 3,000/5,000m, 100m Hurdles, High Jump
IAAF Golden League - Dates and venues in 2006:
June 2 - Oslo, Norway 
July 7 - Paris, France
July 14 - Rome, Italy
August 18 - Zurich, Switzerland
August 25 - Brussels, Belgium
September 3 - Berlin, Germany

For more information on the 2006 IAAF Golden League, visit IAAF.org.

Connolly's hometown to unveil statue

A statue of National Track & Field Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist Harold Connolly will be unveiled December 10 in his hometown of Brighton, Mass. Connolly will be on hand for the event.

A 1984 inductee of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame, Connolly won the gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, and represented the U.S. in three subsequent Olympics, finishing eighth in 1960 and sixth in 1964, before failing to qualify for the final in 1968.

One of the greatest hammer throwers in track and field history, Connolly broke the world record seven times, helping to place the U.S. in the forefront of an event that historically had not been one of the nation's best. A graduate of Boston College, Connolly won 12 national titles, including nine in the hammer outdoors and three indoors with the 35-pound weight throw.

The Harold Connolly statue will be installed at Brighton High School.