IAAF Golden Events

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Rodolfo Gomez winning the IAAF Golden Marathon in 1982 Rodolfo Gomez.jpg
Rodolfo Gómez winning the IAAF Golden Marathon in 1982

The IAAF Golden Events were a sporadic series of twelve athletics events organised by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) from 1978 to 1982. Aside from the inaugural event in Tokyo, the contests were held in Europe and were attached to independent track and field meetings. [1] The purpose of the events was to raise the profile of the sport outside of Olympic competition. Marking the growing professionalism in athletics, a significant prize pot was given to the winner of the event – a move designed to attract the sport's top athletes to compete against each other at the same meeting. The inaugural prize was an 18-carat gold trophy worth 9,500 US dollars. [2] All twelve events were for men, reflecting their position as the most prominent sex during that period. [1]

Contents

The central element of the series was the Golden Mile – a men's mile run contest that launched the series in 1978 and was held annually until 1981. The rivalry of British runners Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe in this event saw each take two wins and Coe set two mile world records in the process. [3] [4] British athletes were particularly successful in the series and won eight of the twelve events. A sprint format, aggregating an athlete's times in separate 100 metres and 200 metres, was launched in 1979 and repeated in 1981. Long-distance running was also a major element of the series as it featured one 5000 metres race, two 10,000 metres races, [5] and a marathon race over the series history. Field events were in a minority, with one javelin throw and one pole vault being their only appearance. [6] [7] The marathon, in 1982, was the last Golden Event to be held. [1] [8]

The establishment of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 1983 saw the IAAF focus on its sport-specific championships as a way of using prizes to generate top level competition. [9] The launch of the IAAF Grand Prix in 1985 formalised the major track and field circuit as a professional series of point-scoring events. [10] The "Golden" was idea revived in the form of the Golden Four in 1992 – a high-prize money, track and field series comprising Oslo, Zurich, Brussels and Berlin (all venues that had hosted Golden Events). [11] This was later expanded and co-opted by the IAAF in 1998 as the IAAF Golden League, [12] which was itself later expanded to the current major track and field series: the IAAF Diamond League. [13]

Some of the events featured title sponsors: the first event was also known as the "Dubai Golden Mile", given its sponsorship by the emirate, and the final event was also known as the "Citizen Golden Marathon", under the patronage of Japanese watchmakers Citizen Holdings. [4] [14]

Editions

YearEventLocationMeetWinner
1978Mile run Tokyo, JapanTokyo Eight Nations International Steve Ovett
1979100/200 metres Zürich, Switzerland Weltklasse Zürich James Sanford
Mile run Oslo, Norway Bislett Games Sebastian Coe
10,000 metres Brussels, Belgium Memorial Van Damme Mike McLeod
Javelin throw Budapest, Hungary Arto Härkönen
1980Mile run London, United Kingdom London Grand Prix Steve Ovett
Pole vault Nice, France Serge Ferreira
1981100/200 metres Berlin, West Germany Internationales Stadionfest Allan Wells
Mile run Brussels, Belgium Memorial Van Damme Sebastian Coe
5000 metres Gateshead, United Kingdom British Grand Prix Barry Smith
10,000 metres Prague, Czechoslovakia Mike McLeod
1982Marathon Athens, Greecen/a Rodolfo Gómez

Podium finishers

EventFirstSecondThird
1978 Golden MileFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Steve Ovett  (GBR)3:55.5Flag of France.svg  Francis Gonzalez  (FRA)3:57.3Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Graham Williamson  (GBR)3:59.2
1979 Golden SprintsFlag of the United States.svg  James Sanford  (USA)30.54Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Allan Wells  (GBR)30.64Flag of Guyana.svg  James Gilkes  (GUY)30.67
1979 Golden MileFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Sebastian Coe  (GBR)3:48.95 WR Flag of the United States.svg  Steve Scott  (USA)3:51.11Flag of the United States.svg  Craig Masback  (USA)3:52.02
1979 Golden 10,000 mFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Mike McLeod  (GBR)27:39.76Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Brendan Foster  (GBR)27:41.23Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Léon Schots  (BEL)27:41.34
1979 Golden JavelinFlag of Finland.svg  Arto Härkönen  (FIN)90.18Flag of Finland.svg  Antero Puranen  (FIN)89.40Flag of Hungary.svg  Ferenc Paragi  (HUN)85.38
1980 Golden MileFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Steve Ovett  (GBR)3:52.84Flag of the United States.svg  Steve Scott  (USA)3:52.92Flag of New Zealand.svg  John Walker  (NZL)3:53.19
1980 Golden VaultFlag of France.svg  Serge Ferreira  (FRA)5.70 mFlag of France.svg  Philippe Houvion  (FRA)5.60 mFlag of Poland.svg  Mariusz Klimczyk  (POL)5.60 m
1981 Golden SprintsFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Allan Wells  (GBR)30.30Flag of the United States.svg  Mel Lattany  (USA)30.86Flag of the United States.svg  Jeff Phillips  (USA)30.97
1981 Golden MileFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Sebastian Coe  (GBR)3:47.33 WR Flag of Kenya.svg  Mike Boit  (KEN)3:49.45Flag of the United States.svg  Steve Scott  (USA)3:51.48
1981 Golden 5000 mFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Barry Smith  (GBR)13:21.14Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Tolossa Kotu  (ETH)13:23.95Flag of the United States.svg  Bill McChesney  (USA)13:24.66
1981 Golden 10,000 mFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Mike McLeod  (GBR)27:59.38Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Geoff Smith  (GBR)27:59.43Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Nick Rose  (GBR)27:59.68
1982 Golden MarathonFlag of Mexico.svg  Rodolfo Gómez  (MEX)2:11:49Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Vladimir Kotov  (URS)2:13:34Flag of the United States.svg  Greg Meyer  (USA)2:14:07

References

  1. 1 2 3 Golden Events. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  2. JAPAN: BRITAIN'S STEVE OVETT WINS THE GOLDEN MILE IN TOKYO, BUT HIS TIME IS WELL OUTSIDE JOHN WALKER'S WORLD RECORD.. ITN News/Reuters (1978-09-25). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  3. Ovett Cops Second Golden Mile Race. The Virgin Islands Daily News (1980-08-27). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  4. 1 2 "Within the International Federations". Archived 2015-02-27 at the Wayback Machine . Olympic Review (1980). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  5. Turnbull, Simon (2006-10-01). Athletics: McLeod: When we were the run kings. The Independent. Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  6. Moore, Kenny (1984-07-18). The Latest In A Long Line. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  7. Ferreira beats world's best vaulters. Straits Times (1980-08-19). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  8. Gomez Is First. New York Times (1982-03-08). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  9. Turrini, Joseph M. (2010). The End of Amateurism in American Track and Field, pg. 239. University of Illinois Press. ISBN   9780252077074. Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  10. History of IAAF World Challenge [ usurped ]. IAAF World Challenge. Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  11. Athletics: 'Golden Four' raising the stakes: Jaackson and Powell share jackpot as organisers in London and Lausanne press to join the elite stakes. The Independent (1994-09-01). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  12. Rowbottom, Mike (1997-11-22). Athletics: Golden Four extended with more money and meetings . The Independent. Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  13. Twelve years of the IAAF Golden League. IAAF (2009-09-09). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
  14. Marathon History Lesson 5 Archived 2015-02-27 at archive.today . Athens Marathon (2014-05-26). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.
Podium finishers