The Diamond League - A Step in the Right Direction
In an athletics season marked by the absence of any global tournament, the International Associations of Athletics Foundations (IAAF) has launched its new initiative: The Diamond League. Having replaced the Golden League as of 2010, the new format seeks to bring top-class athletics competitions around the world.
With 14 different meetings throughout the 2010 season, the remarkable difference between the Golden League and the Diamond League is that the latter is set not only in various European cities, but also in Doha, Shanghai, Eugene and New York.
Though European locations still dominate the schedule, clinching 10 out of 14 meetings, it is a welcome effort to globalise athletics, especially during years when there are no global tournaments in which the world’s best performers can compete.
Upon reaching the decision to establish the league in March last year, IAAF president Lamine Diack expressed enthusiasm at the new format of the competition.
“I am delighted that the IAAF, in close association with the meeting directors, has come up with a new professional circuit which will offer an easily understandable series of meetings to provide world class entertainment and also offer the maximum number of competition opportunities for a maximum number of athletes in different events,” he said to the international press.
Of course, not all aspects of the new tournament are flawless. Firstly, the programming is still largely Eurocentric, with no events taking place in South America, Australia or Africa.
On a brighter note, though, athletes from all over the world can participate in the so-called meetings.
Another positive aspect of the new format is that having 14 meetings in one season, as opposed to the Golden League’s 6, gives top athletes more opportunities to challenge each other.
This is positive not only for each event, of which there are 32 in the Diamond League, but also for spectators at home.
Doubling the total number of prestigious meetings, where a $416,000 cash prize is split between the winners each time, will surely attract more athletes, for whom money must weigh about as heavily as prestige when competing outside of the major tournaments.
On Friday’s Diamond League meeting in Paris, for instance, fans will rejoice at seeing 100m sprinters Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt, both world record breakers and both from Jamaica, compete in the event.
Friday’s meeting will also see Cuban 110m hurdle world record holder Dayron Robles go head-to-head with this season’s best performer in the event, David Oliver of the USA.
It is questionable whether or not as many high-profile athletes will grace the Diamond League cash-cow meetings with their presence next year when the IAAF World Championships in South Korea will be the main focus of the season.
But for 2010, when the European Championships are the best tournament available for spectators, the Diamond League format seems fitting.
Of course, the question remains, what will happen to smaller athletics meetings when faced with the Diamond League’s expansion.
If the top athletes of each event are inevitably drawn to the Diamond's cash and prestigious duels that the 14 meetings have to offer, what will happen to the smaller meetings of the sport?
Then there are other unavoidable problems, such as with scheduling. Why were the recent USA legs of the Diamond League in Eugene and New York three weeks apart?
More effective scheduling will allow even up-and-coming athletes to plan their trips more efficiently.
Then, of course, it’s not even certain that the money-grabbers will show up. Bolt recently cancelled his appearance at the Diamond League meeting in London in August due to strict UK tax laws on foreign athletes’ earnings.
Now, though, the British government is said to be considering making an exception for Bolt. Perhaps the IAAF can count on the charitable actions of governments in future years, too.
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