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| Christophe Lemaitre (FRA), Tero Pitkamaki and Ari Mannio (FIN), Linda Stahl (GER) and Ivet Lalova (BUL) at theofficial European Athletics and Helsinki 2012 Local Organising Committee press conference in the Finnish capital on Tuesday. |
European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz on Tuesday reaffirmed that the new biennial cycle of the European Athletics Championship will usher in a new era of athletics and will be of immense benefit for the future generations of European athletes who would now be able to compete more regularly.
'We have never had that in the past, and we will use it,' he said at the official pre-event press conference of European Athletics and Helsinki 2012 Local Organising Committee at the iconic city hall of the Finnish capital, before suggesting that integrating the European Athletics Championships into a year which includes the Olympics and is also the centenary of the International Association of Athletics Federations means 2012 will be 'the biggest year for athletics in our history, and will give us an important step into the future.'
European Athletics Director General Christian Milz added: 'It is the responsibility of European Athletics to secure the future for generations of athletes, which means providing them with a platform where they can compete at their top level on a regular basis.
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| European Athletics PresidentHansjörg Wirz. |
'I think the Championships will act also as a great curtain opener, as a great barometer of what kind of shape athletes are in and how they will be able to perform in the Olympics.
'Having the Championships every second year gives a chance for more athletes to be able to compete at the peak of their career.
'As in Barcelona in 2010, Helsinki has an attractive cocktail of defending champions, big stars and newcomers. We have 1342 athletes from 50 countries here, and it is the second time when we have had all our 50 members competing at the top level.
'In terms of TV we have more than 1000 hours of coverage, and out of them more than 90 per cent will be live all over Europe on 38 channels. We will also be broadcasting to Brazil, Mexico, Africa, Dubai, the Middle East and Asia.
'This year for the first time we will live stream our events with an English commentary.
'We have 300 written press attending, 140 photographers, and more than 700 broadcasting staff.'
Antti Pihlakoski, president of the Helsinki 2012 Local Organising Committee, commented: 'When we won the right to host these championships, I made a promise that the weather would be better than it was here during the 2005 World Championships. Someone said to me that the weather would be the same this year as in 2005. But I said 'A promise is a promise.' So we are hoping there is not too much rain.
'Having the European Championships every two years will be very special. If we look at the number of medals won by European athletes in major championships, in the 1970s, European athletes won 70 per cent of the medals. But at last year's World Championships in Daegu that figure was only 37 per cent.
'In men's events in particular, the United States and Jamaica have established control in the sprints, and the African nations in the longer distances. I watched the recent Diamond League meeting in Oslo, and there Arne Gabius of Germany ran a personal best of 13min 13.43sec.That would have been a world record in the early 1970s, but here he was only 14th in the race. There were 10 Ethiopian runners ahead of him, and two of them were 18.
'If we try to have a competition for our European runners, that is the biggest reason for having the Championships every two years.
'Our expectation is that around 17 European countries will win medals at the Olympics, but here that number will be between 25-27.
'The 2010 European Championships in Barcelona had 50 per cent more TV viewers from Europe than the 2009 Berlin World Championships. If there are more fellow countrymen and women looking for a medal it creates more interest.'