Raul Rebane of Estonia has won the top prize in the 7thedition of the European Athletics Innovation Awards for his project entitled “The Social Role of an Athlete”.
The award was announced today by Dr Sylvia Barlag (NED), the chair of the awards jury.
“The paper by Mr Rebane describes a systematic and successful programme to integrate the management of an athlete’s image with his sporting development to create a role model for young people and the general public,” said Barlag.
“In effect, the project team was able to make Olympic Champion Gerd Kanter into a brand by linking his personality and success with many positive values that are consistent with European Athletics’ ‘Your Sport for Life’ philosophy.”
“Our recognition of their work signifies that we believe it is a model that can be used by others to build the overall brand of athletics.”
The award, which includes a prize of 10,000 Swiss Francs, will be given to Rebane at the European Athletics Awards Night presented by Mondo in Belgrade, Serbia, on 16 October.
Rebane’s project had earlier been named the winner of the awards’ Promotion category. The other category winners were:
- Coaching Category - “A three-year follow-up study of endurance performance and nocturnal HRV of an international level race walker” by Esa Hynynen (FIN) and Ari Nummela (FIN)
- Technology Category - “Trackside Technology and Data Fusion for Developing Athletics Coaching and Performance” by David Kerwin (GBR), Lawrence Cheng (GBR), Gregor Kuntze (GBR), Ian N. Bezodis (GBR), Huiling Tan (GBR), Kyle Roskilly (GBR), John Lowe (GBR), Alan M. Wilson (GBR), and Stephen Hailes (GBR)
- Sustainability Category - “Continuing on the Road to Sustainability” by Ronald Veerbeek (NED)
- Open Category – “Safety Officers for Masters Athletics” by Nicola Maggio (ITA) and Kurt Kaschke (GER)
Each category winner will receive a prize of 2,000 Swiss Francs.
The jury also recognised ten project entries with certificates of Honourable Mention.
The competition attracted a total of 30 entry files from 16 countries.
Judging was conducted by a six member international jury led by Barlag.
The European Athletics Innovation Awards were created in 1998 to encourage research and the sharing of new ideas leading to the promotion and development of the sport of athletics.
The competition is open to European sport scientists, academics, coaches and students. The eight edition of the awards will be in 2012.