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Race walks will be held along the awarded medals for the first time. in 2012. He will be competing in
Mall, with the victory ceremonies The idea is to reward the individuals the 3000m and 5000m, and will
being held in front of Buckingham who are often working just as hard certainly be a crowd favourite on
Palace. as the athletes. his home turf.
Most of the other events will When publicising the innovation, The long jump should be
be held in the specially designed the IAAF said that the “medals, particularly competitive, with the
stadiums put in place for the highly gifted to successful athletes once gold, silver and bronze medalists
lauded London Olympics of 2012. they return from the ceremony, will from Rio’s Olympics reunited for a
Only recently, West Ham United be for them to hand to their coach rematch. World champion Tianna
Football Club took down their name or significant advisor in recognition Bartoletta goes in as the favourite.
from the London Stadium, allowing of the unique and valued working The American jumper was actually
it to regain its non-partisan aspect. relationship”. in London five years ago for the
With the recent truck attack This move will certainly help to Olympics, but that time as a
on London Bridge and the raise the profile and reward the sprinter.
Manchester tragedy of June, all services of these often neglected “London was where I made
efforts to safeguard the events individuals who help enhance the my first Olympic team,” she says.
are being taken. While the UK sport. “Running the 100m in London was
seems vulnerable to terror attacks, a life-changing experience, which
administrators argue that London really set me up for the second
is one of the safest places in the phase of my career.
world for major competitions. “It is really interesting that I’ll be
Lord Coe, speaking about the going back to that same stadium
increase in the threat level from but in a different event, which I
‘severe’ to ‘critical’, said that “I’m think is kind of cool.”
unashamed in my admiration for Back at the marathon, the
the police services throughout the Ethiopian team will be expectant
UK. We worked very closely with of great things this year. Record-
the Metropolitan Police during the holders Kenenisa Bekele and
London 2012 years. Tirunesh Dibaba have won plenty
“Within the confines of what is of golds between them in different
an increasingly complicated and meets, but are on the same
complex international landscape, national team for the first time at a
there is probably no other country major competition.
I would rather be in for a major Bekele ran a 2:05:04 in Paris in
championships than the UK - we 2014, and bettered that last year
do this extremely well. That is with a 2:03:03. Dibaba snagged a
not tempting fate, we just have On the track, there will be many silver in London, gaining a national
an experience in putting sporting fascinating clashes. As mentioned record for her run of 2:17:56. If they
events on in a city that has always in these pages, Usain Bolt will be get anywhere close to their bests
been global and has always been a contesting the 4x100m relay and this time around, they should blow
target.” the 100m sprint for the last time, the field away.
Hopefully the public won’t know as significant a race as anyone will These are just three of the
what is happening behind the see this decade. In order to instil subplots that will be part of the
scenes and can concentrate on the a love of track and field in a new action come August. Just like in
competition. generation, the IAAF has made any competition, there will be any
One innovation that awaits the tickets available to young people number of surprises and upsets,
coaching staff in London will be for as little as £10 for the race. champions will be confirmed and
the broadening of the definition British runner Mo Farah will legends born.
of medals. This championship, be back at the place where he It is sure to be an exciting
coaches or significant staff will be managed his famous ‘double gold’ two weeks.

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