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Berlin is in the race for the World’s 2005

Berlin will be the city for the IAAF’s World Championships in 2005

2002-02-15

Germany will go ahead with the strongest possible contender: the capital. The German athletics federation, Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband (DLV), announced that Berlin will be the city with which the federation will apply for the IAAF’s World Championships in 2005. A national selection was necessary as Stuttgart, the venue of the World Championships in 1993, and Munich, where this year’s European Championships will take place, also applied for the most prestigious event in global sports behind the Olympics for the hosting city. The IAAF will now decide on 14th April in Nairobi which city will get the championships in 2005: Rome, Budapest, Brussels, Helsinki, Moscow or Berlin.

“It was a difficult task to decide, because all three cities presented excellent bids. So I would like to stress that in my eyes there is no looser. But in the end we voted for Berlin. And now we will all do our very best to take this chance and get the World Championships to Berlin”, Clemens Prokop, the president of the DLV, announced on Friday evening in Sindelfingen, where the German indoor championships take place during the weekend. The presidency of the DLV first voted. Six of the federation’s top officials chose Berlin, three Munich and two Stuttgart. But that was not the end of the vote, it was just to give an advice before the decisive round. The 20 presidents of the local federations had the last word together again with the presidency of the DLV. But Berlin came through again, surprisingly clear: 22 votes were in favour of the capital. “This is a very good decision. I believe if you see things objective Berlin must be top. It is very important for the sport in Germany that the capital gets the chance of applying for such an event”, Armin Baumert, a former long jumper and coach of high jumper Andrea Baumert (Arens), said. Baumert is the head of the elite sport department of the German Sports Federation (DSB).

The main aspect that was in favour of Berlin was the stadium. The Olympic Stadium will be completely rebuild by the end of 2004. And as this happens with the requirements of international athletics in mind, the German capital will boost a superb athletics arena. Berlin also offered more than enough hotels and the huge International Congress Centre being just two miles away from the stadium. As Munich and Stuttgart the city guaranteed to finance the championships. Another factor, not mentioned by DLV officials, probably was that Berlin’s international chances are generally rated higher than Stuttgart’s and Munich’s.

For Berlin the World Championships would be the most important sports event since the Olympics back in 1936. “I am of course very happy with the result. But I think we deserved it because we presented an excellent bid. Our main feature is of course the Olympic Stadium, but also the hotel situation is a very good one in Berlin”, Christoph Kopp said. Kopp is the president of Berlin’s athletics federation and a well-known figure in international athletics as, for example, for many years he was the elite race director of the Berlin Marathon.

“In contrast to Berlin’s Olympic bid for 2000 this time politics, media and the economy of Berlin are all behind the bid for the World Championships. They all will work together to get a fantastic event”, Christoph Kopp said.