IAAF president: Beijing Olympics will be one of the greatest ever held

The president of IAAF Lamine DiackPhoto Gallery>>(BEIJING, July 7) -- The head of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Lamine Diack, predicted in an interview with the official website of the 2008 Olympic Games that "the Beijing Olympics will be one of the greatest ever held, not just for athletics, but for all sports."

"I hope they [the Olympics] allow the Chinese people to express the special culture of their wonderful country," said IAAF President Lamine Diack, who is also a member of International Olympic Committee.

Diack forecast in a cyberspace-based interview that Beijing's elevated temperatures in August could challenge some of the athletes set to converge on the ancient Chinese capital from across the world: "Athletics is a very complex sport which is made up of many different throwing, jumping and running events. So the weather in Beijing, which we expect to be hot and humid, will be excellent for the sprinters and jumpers, but not ideal for athletes in long distance events such as race walk and marathon."

Yet many of the athletes slated to join the Olympic Games, he added, got a foretaste of the weather conditions likely to prevail in the Chinese capital next month when they took part in last summer's IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan. He explained that Osaka has very similar climate to Beijing's.

The head of the IAAF is himself a former athlete and one-time university champion in the long jump. He is also a champion when it comes to building a family. The official website of the IAAF states that Diack has 15 children.

The IAAF, the global governing group on athletics, was established nearly a century ago, and is currently headquartered in Monaco. The group organizes competitions that include the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, the World Junior Championships in Athletics and the AF Golden League.

Lamine Diack has headed the group since 1999.

Diack told the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games that "IAAF representatives say that the [Olympic] stadium is not only an exceptional architectural monument but also has everything they need to conduct an excellent athletics competition."

"I have no doubts at all that the new track will motivate the athletes to perform at their best highest level," he added.

The IAAF's Golden League competitions this year, Diack said, have helped an array of athletes prepare for the Summer Games in Beijing. "The IAAF is currently studying the future of the Golden League," he explained. "Our biggest priority is to extend the circuit outside of Europe and certainly, we fully expect to have competitions from Asia included in the "new Golden League".

Diack also suggested that the Olympic Games, being staged for the first ever by China, have the power to infuse an entire generation of young people with the spirit of global games and interaction: "My wish is that the youth in China benefits from the Games in terms of enthusiasm and motivation."