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| European Athletics Director General Christian Milz. |
Ahead of the 2012 European Athletics Championships starting on Wednesday 27 June, European Athletics Director General Christian Milz is confident that host city Helsinki will provide a grand platform for existing and future stars of athletics to make their mark and gain confidence ahead of London 2012.
Writing in the latest edition of the Inside Track newsletter published this week, Milz outlined how European Athletics and the Helsinki 2012 Local Organising Committee have ensured the best facilities for athletes, media, and fans both onsite and offsite.
“As ever, the European Athletics Championships will be the ultimate shop window for athletics on the continent, when established and new stars of our sport have the chance to shine on the grandest of stages,” writes Milz.
“It’s a time when our sport reaches its largest audience. We have already announced strong broadcast intentions for Helsinki 2012 with one month still to go until the championships with a figure approaching 1000 hours of live and delayed coverage ... with this figure continually rising as late intentions roll in and previous intentions are revised.” (figure now stands at 1,075 hours).
“The expected television coverage shows the value broadcasters attach to a European Athletics Championships, and the figures are especially strong considering that these championships will be a compact five days instead of six with no marathons or race walks.
“Television is the gateway for our sport to a wide audience of existing and potential new fans and I am happy to say that our long-standing partnership with the European Broadcasting Union, which has been of the utmost importance in ensuring excellent coverage of our events across Europe since 1981, has ensured we have a robust foundation of broadcasters wanting to televise our flagship event. Indeed, we are pleased to have come to an agreement with the EBU on the sale of media rights for the rest of the world (outside Europe) for the period 2012-2015.
“We will also stream live the championships this time around, with English commentary adding colour to the live action. Athletics fans around the world will be able to click through to the live stream link from the European Athletics website homepage and watch the championships live in their entirety, and discuss the action as it happens with fellow fans through a Facebook plug-in. They will also be able to instantly rewind the action and watch video on demand of an event just a few minutes after it has finished.
“The multi-media approach doesn’t stop there. Athletes' post-competition interviews will be uploaded to the European Athletics YouTube site (www.youtube.com/europeanathletics) throughout the championships. And videos, photos, news articles and more will be posted to the new European Athletics Championships Facebook fan page (facebook.com/EuropeanAthleticsChampionships) and dedicated Twitter feed @Euro_Champs (www.twitter.com/Euro_Champs).
“Meanwhile, the European Athletics app for iPhone and Android will carry a link to the Helsinki 2012 mobile-optimised website carrying all the start lists and live results. Of course, the European Athletics website (www.european-athletics.org) will carry all the latest news from Helsinki 2012 in the final countdown to the event and throughout the five-day championships.
“All eyes will be trained on Helsinki between 27 June and 1 July with the event attracting a huge amount of interest from media, sponsors and the public. 10,000 people will be accredited for the event, with about 1,600 to 1,800 team members from 50 Member Federation countries on their way to the Finnish capital. We expect more than 1,000 media representatives to attend.
“Indeed, the magnitude of this high-quality event cannot be underestimated – nor can the values it brings, not least in terms of the host city. The Helsinki 2012 local organising committee forecasts a 20 to 30 million euro boost to the local economy in the Helsinki metropolitan area and 10 to 15 million euros of direct tax revenue to Finnish society.
“Helsinki’s approach to the championships has been in tune with our belief that a European Athletics Championships must be fully integrated within the city so that the event doesn’t begin and end as one enters and leaves the stadium. The Opening Ceremony on the eve of the event will be held at Senate Square – a spectacular setting in the middle of the Finnish capital. An ‘Event Park’ has been prepared outside the Olympic Stadium offering lots of different activities. Mornings will cater for the younger generation and families with music, plays and activities. The SPARK Junior Athletics Area will be set-up by our International Partner SPAR to entertain young athletics fans. The daytime programme will be for older boys and girls while the evening will cater for older fans. And for the first time in the history of the event, the Victory Ceremonies will be held outside the stadium in the Event Park. This will mean that the whole of Helsinki can be a part of the championships.
“With many vital elements in place, the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki will be a memorable occasion, with spectators in the stadium, fans in Helsinki and millions of TV viewers around the world able to enjoy the event.
“There has been a lot of groundwork leading up to this point. In the procedure of implementing a European Athletics Championships in an Olympic year we made it clear to all that it will be a competition that creates ‘European champions’ – a big difference to one-day meetings. Our Member Federations strongly asked for such a possibility in the Olympic year.”
“The chance of success for athletes is obviously much higher than at the Olympics: from 100 percent of European medal winners at our continental championships to around 40 percent of European medal winners at the Olympics. The Member Federations recognise the importance of this success as well as the recognition and awareness of these top results by the public, television, media, institutions and governments.
“It is a fact that the Member Federations select the teams for the European Athletics Championships and therefore it is interesting to note that their procedures and requirements of the selection criteria for Helsinki 2012 have strongly respected participation in the Championships.
“In terms of timing, Helsinki 2012 falls about the same time as the U.S. Olympic trials, when American athletes compete at the highest level to ensure selection for the summer Games. It hasn’t done them any harm in the last two Olympics, as Team USA has finished top of the athletics medal table.
“In backing up all the compelling reasons for an Olympic-year European Athletics Championships, we have worked hard on the international promotion of Helsinki 2012. The aim of European Athletics in centrally promoting the event was:
- to get Member Federations working together to strengthen the positioning of the Championships as a major and much-needed event in the athletics calendar;
- to place Helsinki 2012 as a crucial part of the brand-building process for the sport;
- to ensure that Helsinki 2012 is seen as bigger than the athletes and stars; it is the Championships themselves that are the attraction, the sustainable value and the long-term guarantee we can count on;
- to make the Helsinki 2012 European Athletics Championships a spectacular curtain raiser for the London 2012 Olympic Games;
- to promote Helsinki 2012 as a prominent stage for existing and, importantly, emerging Olympic talent;
- to ensure our Member Federations were clear on how to communicate the benefits to all audiences of a biennial event format.
“We now approach the home straight of Helsinki 2012 … the event itself. I hope you enjoy it!”