Doha has been designated the host city of one of the globe’s largest sporting events – the World Championships in Athletics in 2019.
Qatar’s capital beat out Barcelona and the American city of Eugene for hosting rights to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) tournament this afternoon, following presentations by all three bidders in Monaco.
And the 2019 IAAF World Championships will be held in…
DOHA!
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) November 18, 2014
The news was quick to spread through social media:
I have big smile now for rest of day #doha2019 @doha_2019 congratulations for all you effort to get #2019WC @iaaforg
— Piotr Haczek OLY (@400HAQ) November 18, 2014
@dohanews Congratulations Qatar!!!…World Athletic Championship Doha 2019
— Cherian Varghese (@ajucherry) November 18, 2014
@qatarathletics @Qatar_NSD it is Qatar in 2019! Fantastic! @dohanews
— SA (@shabeeraa) November 18, 2014
Among those who pitched for Doha under the slogan “Connecting the world of athletics” was Mutaz Barshim, a rising Qatari athlete who is an Olympic bronze medalist and world silver medalist.
Hurdler Mariam Farid also spoke, explaining in French the role that athletics plays in empowering women in the region.
The event, which typically runs for slightly more than a week, attracted nearly 2,000 athletes – plus their coaches, fans as well as sports journalists – to Russia in 2013, according to the IAAF.
The World Championships feature various track and field disciplines including sprints, a marathon, high jump and javelin throwing, among others.
The actual events will be centered around Khalifa International Stadium, which is currently being renovated, while the IAAF Congress will be held at the Qatar National Convention Center.
In the run-up to the decision, Qatar was largely considered the favorite as host.
However, when Qatar announced in April its plan to enter the running, there were concerns about its summer heat, since the tournament is typically held in August/September.
But the country’s final presentation to the IAAF today proposed hosting the event in late September and early October.
While presented as a way of making the tournament “a grand finale” of the athletics season, it also headed off concerns about the country’s warm climate that have dogged Qatar as it prepares for the 2022 World Cup.
Many human rights activists have used the football tournament’s international spotlight to highlight the living and working conditions of migrant laborers in Qatar.
Critics of Qatar’s IAAF bid had also called on the sporting body to demand authorities do more to end abuses of foreign workers as a condition of the Gulf country hosting the championships.
While the World Cup is the most high-profile sporting event planned for Qatar, the country is increasingly building its brand as a destination for international athletic events.
In addition to hosting events such as the 2006 Asian Games and FINA swimming championships, Qatar continues to pour resources into the Aspire Zone, which includes athletic venues as well as sports medicine facilities and is set to be expanded in the coming years.
“We have worked very hard in developing athletics,” Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee, told IAAF delegates today. “We are ready to move to the next step and organize a real world championship.”
The last IAAF world championships was last held in Russia in 2013. Qatar finished with a single silver medal, which was won by Barshim in the high jump event, tying the country for 26th place among the 38 participating countries.
Looking forward
According to the IAAF, the biennial world championships is the third largest sporting event in the world based on the number of participating nations, teams (more than 200), athletes (over 2,000) and television viewership.
With both the 2019 IAAF championships and the 2022 World Cup under its belt, it’s likely that Doha will have a better chance of winning hosting rights to the Olympics.
Qatar has repeatedly bid for the world’s largest sporting event without success, but said it would continue to try to win it again for 2024.
The next IAAF world championships will be held in 2015 in Beijing, and then in 2017 in London.
Thoughts?
Gotta give Qatar Credit. They are pulling in some good stuff man! I like it.
of course, typically great place Qatar in Summer, even in September is crazy hot…..but I guess the check was very big….how dare Barcelona (host of Olympic Games 1992) to bid for such an event, being a city of great public transportation, great weather near the sea, great infrastructures outside and inside the city….instead, better come to Qatar where there is nothing, outside of Doha but just sand and of course the traffic is so smooth with this incredible Doha public transportation that even the Tube of London looks old fashion compared to Doha!
Dear fullmoon07, I believe you can easily leave the country and go and leave either in London, or Barcelona or wherever you want. Unless you have reasons to be kept here, you are free to go.
I am not an athlete who has to run even if it is late September.
Have you ever been in one of these events ever?
You see, if Qatar wants to host a water-ski competition in December I think it is a smart place to hold an event like this here. But athletics even in late Sept. I find it stupid considering it is an open-air event. It is all about the climate.
I guess next time Qatar should run for the bid of Winter Olympics too or the Alpine Ski World Cup….after all climate does not matter right?
Kafala…he is a trapped slave.
I’m with Yorpap…. And the same applies to all foreign Qatar haters. Go home. I drive you to the airport…. No charge.
1st…its late september/ october….the weather in Qatar at this time isnt bad at all. maybe hot but not crazy hot..
2nd….why should they always give it to well established countries that have hosted events before?
3rd….Doha is near the sea. so i dont get your point
4th…They are working on the infrastructure to improve it.
5th…did you watch any of the bids? would you have ruled out the other city that wanted to host it purely on not having any of the stuff you listed?
For the record, in 1999 Seville hosted the World championship in August and let me tell you that at this time of the year Seville’s weather is actually really similar to Doha’s in September.
You sir, are free to leave the country whenever you wish. What is stopping you from doing so ? Is it the big fat check you get at the end of the month ? Or the ”nothing but sand and the smooth traffic” of Doha ?
What a narrow assessment of what Qatar offers. Some people actually enjoy the fact that there is so much unspoilt country outside of Doha, such a different landscape, a different experience to US or Spain. As for the heat- don’t you know how hot Spain is in summer? Qatar has air cooling systems in virtually every building, unlike Spain where you just sweat it out. Qatar- great job.
and do you want to compare the great infrastructures of Barcelona with incredible transportation system of Doha? First get what it is essential for a city to be normal and than host all the events you want. This is the point of my post. Again, certain events here in the winter months are amazing, athelitcs in late September is dreadful. Have you been here to the Diamond League in mid May? I sweat even my bones off!
So it IS the “nothing but sand and the smooth traffic” in Doha that you’re still here. Good to know…
Worth listening to what the athletes themselves have to say about it.
I don’t understand why Qatar doesn’t put more into sports such as cricket, where the conditions are more suitable. As usual, they’re lagging behind Dubai and Abu Dhabi in that regard.
All the focus is on big ticket, showpiece events, for which conditions are not really suitable.
Posted 8 hours ago & only 4 comments? I had planned for a long entertaining read. What will I do now?
I wish I could tell you how you can have alternative types of fun. I have a feeling that If I did, it might be taken in a really bad way… not that i wouldn’t have intended that though…
Dude that’s hilarious!
2019 & 2022 will be hilarious years 🙂
Imagine The Qatar team (more like Sudan&Egypt&Paletinian&African) team dressed in Qatari cloths will lift the 2022 cup? By then, south Americans would be selling their souls for energy. Europe, would have more Qatari investments than how much my ex gf’s brother had zits on his face and Qatar will be as generous as always 🙂
I love sports… always for a good cause 🙂
What? No cries of “foul, referee!”???? Ah, wait… It’s the middle of the night in London… The Times haven’t woken up yet. Even as we speak they will be hacking hundreds of mail accounts and by lunchtime will have unearthed “millions” of emails proving Qatar bribed every sporting body and committee member in the world – regardless of the sport.
Well done Qatar! But prepare yourselves for yet another bashing in the European media.
I think you are a bit silly to start accusing the European media on this one, FIFA has just turned over Garcia’s report to the Swiss Authorities due to what they believe were criminal actions in the bids for 2018/2022. You’ll look a bit silly on your comment if anyone gets convicted on this.
The other bit is the Swiss might hand the documents to the FBI who are already investigating criminal activity in FIFA and has already ‘turned’ Chuck Blazer as he wants to save his own skin. This isn’t finished by a long way…..
However all that has nothing to do with this minor atheletics championship.
‘minor athletics championship’??
London will host the 2017 games so I don’t think they will have any reason to “target” Qatar. And personally, I think Qatar will be able to do a better job on hosting this as compared to the World Cup 2022. Less cultural clashes and lower requirements on the infrastructure.
Have you seen how the female athletes are dressed!!!
I did mention less, which is a comparative term. Besides the athletes in the Asian games 2006 were similarly dressed. The athletes dressing is for the functional purpose of their particular sport and they will not be similarly dressed outside the stadium. As an example, I also don’t think this will clash as much as the Brazilian female supporters for the FIFA 2022 tournament, who will also not be confined to the stadiums.
European media? I think that the average Times reader will be disturbed that you classified them as European – them’s fighting words. In fairness though, the world’s media has been following and reporting on FIFA/ Qatar/Russia, not just the Europeans. With news of the FBI’s involvement this will only increase.
I think this is good for Qatar and good for sporting events. It costs a lot of money to put on these events and countries where the tax payers have a say are not always happy to shell out millions for a couple of weeks of some man or woman running around in circles. The Qatar government does not have that problem, they can spend billions without the consent of the people and the citizens dare not complain. (Don’t write a poem about it either).
I for one are happy about this, it will give me some enterntainment if I am still here. Always good to see first class sportsmen in the flesh so to speak.
On a side not, please don’t bid for the 2024 Olympics it would be a mess. Go for 2028 instead. You need so many different types of venues compared to say a single sport like the WC or the World Athetic Championships and once it is finished most venues are never used again. Trying to hold 2019, 2022 and 2024 would be a logistical impossiblity without flooding the country with another 500,000 expats and I am sure the Qataris would like the money spent on something more useful for them.
2019. Hope the Metro and some budget hotels / hostels are ready in place by that time. Looking forward to attending the event here if I’m still here.
Congratulations Qatar. This is a fantastic event and as far as I am concerned has a far greater impact on encouraging people to take part that a football tournament. I hope I’m still here to be part of it. (sadly as a spectator, not a participant!)
….stepping stone for the summer Olympics in 2024….
…..then Winter Olympics in 2030 🙂
..I heard that bid included a secret new technology, which promised to send toilet-drones that can extract your po*p while you are sitting & watching the games. Qatar said they are just refining the technology and they promised it will be ready by then…
So you have to start looking for any players for your National Team from other countries.