World championship debate up and running

MOVES are to be made to explore the possibility of bringing the world track and field athletics championships to Dublin early in the new millennium.

The project, which appears to have replaced aspirations to bring the Olympic Games to Ireland in the minds of the more pragmatic of our sporting entrepreneurs, has already had some air play.

Now BLE confirm that a discussion about the feasibility of Ireland applying to host the championships for the first time will be on their agenda in the coming months. No time scale has yet been formulated, but the earliest possible target would appear to be 2006. Even that may prove over ambitious as the outlines of a huge logistical exercise become clearer.

Central to the application would be the goodwill of the Gaelic Athletic Association and their approval for the installation of a retractable running track, which would lead to some loss of seating capacity, in the second phase of their redevelopment programme at Croke Park.

BLE officials have already met with their GAA counterparts on the issue and been assured that athletics is one of the sports under consideration in what is termed their "turf management" strategy.

Although trenchant as ever in its opposition to association football, the GAA sees itself as linked, historically, to athletics. Also, the organisation may seek to exploit the possibility of staging the world championships at Croke Park as a means of extracting additional public funding for the redevelopment of the stadium.

DISC, the body set up to explore the feasibility of attracting major international sporting events to Dublin, hasn't yet discussed the proposition with BLE. It is understood, however, that the omission will be redressed within the next fortnight as sports people, on either side of the divide, discuss the relevance of Fianna Fail's discussion document on sport, published earlier in the week.

According to BLE's international secretary, Chris Wall: "The link between sport and tourism is well researched and the staging of the world championships would unquestionably rate as one of the biggest single tourist attractions in Dublin. Moreover, the media coverage which goes with the presentation of a global event such as this, would guarantee the city and the country, a huge profile.

"We consider that the project is realistic enough to warrant serious consideration by all with an input to make and as such, we propose to start talks with interested parties, within a matter of weeks."

Wall confirmed that at this point, no precise costing had been done, but estimated that the championships would attract sufficient funding, direct and indirect, to be almost self financing.

The prospect of staging a major track championship has always attracted the more enterprising element in BLE and the decision to host the IAAF's annual congress in Dublin in November was seen as the first step in that process.

During his Irish visit, Dr Primo Nebiola, the IAAF President was said to have been impressed by the manner in which BLE had discharged its responsibilities as the host organisation and pledged his support in any future bids to stage major championships.

He was thought to have been particularly impressed by the Phoenix Park as a possible setting for the world cross country championships, but having hosted this event at Limerick in 1979, BLE believe that it is now time to expand its horizons.

The world track and field championships, inaugurated only 14 years ago, rate as one of the biggest fixtures on the international sport calendar. Competition lasts for eight days with approximately 2,000 elite athletes taking part.

Inaugurated on a four year cycle at Helsinki, where Eamonn Coghlan was among the first batch of champions in 1983, they were later acclaimed as outstanding successes at Rome (1987) and Tokyo (1991). Responding to public demand, the IAAF then decided to hold them at intervals off two years, starting in Stuttgart in 1993 and continuing at Gothenburg two years later.

This year's championships are scheduled for Athens in August, in what has been interpreted as a consolation prize for the International Olympic Committee's failure to award the Centennial Games to Greece. The venue for the championships in 2003 is due to be announced later this year.