IOC Member and IAAF vice-president Sergey Bubka has been elected as a Chairman of the IAAF Development Commission at the IAAF Council meeting in Monaco. The Commission has been previously chaired by the IAAF President Lamine Diack while Mr. Bubka occupied the Vice Chairman post.

 

The Development Commission has gained the key role in IAAF in the recent years providing huge number of activities for promotion of the athletics across the globe. Implementing the IAAF Athletics’ World Plan, the Commission and its ‘branch offices’ – Regional Development Centers – managed a lot of educational, coaching and research programs, as well as created and supervised The IAAF High Performance Training Centres’ network.

 

‘It is a great honour for me to succeed Mr Lamine Diack at the head of the IAAF Development Commission’, said Bubka to the press officer of the Ukrainian Athletics Federation.

 

‘The Development Commission has done a lot for implementing the most intensive development programs among the Olympic sports. We will continue this course as it brings us success. In fact we have got lots of star athletes from the regions which discovered athletics in the recent 10 years. It happened due to IAAF coaching and development activities, as well as the work of the IAAF accredited Training Centers. Fabiana Murer from Brazil who trained a lot in Formia Center supervised by Vitaly Petrov is one example to mention among many others’, added Bubka. ‘Close and active cooperation with National Federations is a key factor for our future success. We will continue involving new people and new regions in athletics for the sake of our sports’.

 

Sergey Bubka also congratulated London which has been awarded the right to host 2017 IAAF World Championships. ‘There was a long road for London to this victory with two previous unsuccessful bids. Today, the time is right. They truly deserve to stage the IAAF World Championships. I congratulate London and the whole bid team led by my colleague Seb Coe for a well done job. Today’s victory as well as Beijing 2015 shows us what Olympic legacy really means.  Thanks to Olympics our sport received two fascinating venues in two fascinating cities used for the greatest athletics event. I’m sure that 2017 IAAF World Championships at the 2012 Olympic Stadium will give a powerful boost to athletics in the UK.