Posted: February 3, 2006

Athletics: Men's Distance Event Added To 2006 Golden League

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

The men's 3000/5000 event has been added to the 2006 Golden League, the IAAF announced today.

The decision followed a meeting held yesterday of the IAAF Golden League Working Group, which consists of IAAF representatives, Golden League meeting organizers and representatives from broadcasting and marketing partner IMG/TWI.

"With neither an IAAF World Championships in Athletics nor an Olympic Games next summer, we believe that the IAAF Golden League has an even bigger role to play in promoting the sport of athletics," said IAAF Presiden Lamine Diack in a press statement. "For this reason, we concluded that it is important to add a men's distance running event and to widen the opportunities for participation. IAAF Golden League meeting organizers will now be able to present either a 3000m or 5000m event."

The addition increases the men's GL events to six, while the women's total will stay at five. The event are:

Men: 100m, 400m, 1500m, 3000/5000m, Long Jump, and the Javelin Throw.
Women: 100m, 400m, 3000/5000m, 100m Hurdles, and the High Jump.

The six-meet series kicks off on Friday, June 2 with the Exxon Mobil Bislett Games in Oslo. In recent years, athletes who won their respective events in each of the six meets also won a share of a $1 million jackpot. In 2005, triple jumper Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia was the sole jackpot survivor. A new format will debut this year, with an announcement expected shortly.

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