IAAF Golden League

The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, sometimes given in gold bars, which inspired the series name.[1] The competition began with seven meetings and it lasted for twelve years as the IAAF's top tier of one-day meetings. Within the IAAF's global circuit, athletes received additional points for their performances at the Golden League for the IAAF Grand Prix (1998–2002),[2] IAAF World Outdoor Meetings (2003–2005),[3] then IAAF World Athletics Tour (2006–2009).[4] The Golden League was replaced in 2010 by the Diamond League, which marked an expansion to fourteen seasonal meetings covering all track and field events except the hammer throw.[5]

IAAF Golden League

Sport	Outdoor track and field
Founded	1998
Ceased	2009
Continent	Europe

The origins of the Golden League trace back to the Golden Four series that ran from 1993 to 1997, comprising four top level European meetings on the IAAF Grand Prix circuit (Berlin, Brussels, Oslo, and Zürich).[6] The first Golden League was held as the new top tier of the 1998 IAAF Grand Prix and consisted of the former Golden Four meetings, plus Rome, Monaco, and the 1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final in Moscow.[7] From the 1999 IAAF Golden League onwards, the Meeting Gaz de France in Paris was added and the Grand Prix Final dropped.[8] That year all meetings were scheduled for Wednesday evenings in order to improve the sport's television coverage.[9] When the IAAF Grand Prix was succeeded by the IAAF World Outdoor Meetings series in 2003, the Monaco meeting was removed from the Golden League series and made host of the IAAF World Athletics Final instead.[10][11] The Golden League meetings remained unchanged from 2003 to 2009.[3][4]

The series had three title sponsors in its history, starting with Ericsson in 1998,[7] TDK in 2004 and 2005,[12] then ÅF in 2008 and 2009.[13]

Editions

Edition	Year	Start date	End date	Meets	Jackpot events	Oslo	Rome	Paris	Monaco	Zürich	Brussels	Berlin	GP Final	Series	Ref.
1	1998 ()	9 July	1 September	7	12	1	2	N/A	3	4	5	6	7	1998 IAAF Grand Prix	[14][2]
2	1999 ()	30 June	7 September	7	12	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	N/A	1999 IAAF Grand Prix	[15][16]
3	2000 ()	23 June	1 September	7	12	3	2	1	5	4	6	7	N/A	2000 IAAF Grand Prix	[17][18]
4	2001 ()	29 June	31 August	7	14	3	1	2	4	5	6	7	N/A	2001 IAAF Grand Prix	[19][20]
5	2002 ()	28 June	6 September	7	12	1	3	2	4	5	6	7	N/A	2002 IAAF Grand Prix	[21][22]
6	2003 ()	27 June	5 September	6	12	1	3	2	N/A	4	5	6	N/A	2003 IAAF World Outdoor Meetings	[23][3]
7	2004 ()	11 June	12 September	6	12	1	2	3	N/A	4	5	6	N/A	2004 IAAF World Outdoor Meetings	[24][25]
8	2005 ()	1 July	4 September	6	11	3	2	1	N/A	4	5	6	N/A	2005 IAAF World Outdoor Meetings	[26][27]
9	2006 ()	2 June	3 September	6	11	1	3	2	N/A	4	5	6	N/A	2006 IAAF World Athletics Tour	[28][29]
10	2007 ()	15 June	16 September	6	10	1	3	2	N/A	4	5	6	N/A	2007 IAAF World Athletics Tour	[30][31]
11	2008 ()	1 June	5 September	6	10	2	3	4	N/A	5	6	1	N/A	2008 IAAF World Athletics Tour	[32][33]
12	2009 ()	14 June	4 September	6	10	2	3	4	N/A	5	6	1	N/A	2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour	[34][4]

Meetings

The locations of the meetings from 2005 onwards

Hurdles at the Bislett Games, one of the Golden League meets

The Olympiastadion in Berlin, which hosted the ISTAF Berlin

#	Meeting	Arena	City	Country	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
12	Bislett Games	Bislett Stadium	Oslo	Norway	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
12	Weltklasse Zürich	Letzigrund	Zürich	Switzerland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
12	Memorial Van Damme	King Baudouin Stadium	Brussels	Belgium	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
12	ISTAF Berlin	Olympiastadion	Berlin	Germany	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
12	Golden Gala	Stadio Olimpico	Rome	Italy	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
11	Meeting Areva	Stade de France	Paris	France		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
5	Herculis	Stade Louis II	Fontvieille	Monaco	•	•	•	•	•
1	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Luzhniki Stadium	Moscow	Russia	•

• In 2004, the Bislett Games were moved from Oslo to the Fana Stadion in Bergen due to the redevelopment of the Bislett Stadium.[35] The renovation was a requirement to its maintaining Golden League status.[11]

Jackpot

Rules

The jackpot and its eligibility rules changed through the competition's history. Each year, a number of men's and women's events were made eligible for the Golden League jackpot if an athlete won their event at all Golden League meetings. This ranged from five to eight men's events and five to six women's events for each year. In the first two years, jackpot winners shared in a US$1 million prize. In 2000 and 2001, this was changed to 50 kg of gold bars and athletes only had to win at 5 out of 7 meetings to qualify for the jackpot. In 2003, the prize structure reverted to US$1 million for athletes winning at all the meets only, and a new stipulation was that athletes also had to compete at the IAAF World Athletics Final.[12]

From 2006 onwards, the jackpot events were set to five men's events and five women's events, ensuring gender equality.[36] The award structure was also changed in 2006 so that athletes who won any five of the six events shared in a purse of US$250,000, while the remaining US$750,000 would be divided among athletes who won all six meetings. This was to a response to the fact that only four athletes shared in the jackpot in the three previous seasons.[37][38] From 2007 onwards, the jackpot was again only shared amongst athletes who won at all six meetings.[39]

Events

  Jackpot event with no winner

  Jackpot event with winner

Men

Event	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Total	Winners
100 m			Greene						Powell				10	2
200 m													2	-
400 m									Wariner				4	2
800 m		Kipketer		Bucher									5	2
1500 m/Mile	El Guerrouj		El Guerrouj	El Guerrouj	El Guerrouj								9	4
3000 m/5000 m									Bekele[40]			Bekele	6	2
5000 m/10,000 m	Gebrselassie												1	1
110 m hurdles				Johnson									6	1
400 m hurdles					Sánchez								5	1
3000 m s'chase													2	-
High jump													2	-
Pole vault													5	-
Long jump									Saladino[40]				4	1
Triple jump							Olsson						4	1
Shot put													1	-
Discus throw													1	-
Javelin throw													8	-
Total	7	7	7	8	6	6	6	6	6	5	6	5	75
Winners	2	1	2	3	2	-	1	-	4	-	-	1	16

Women

Event	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Total	Winners
100 m	Jones			Jones	Jones								10	3
200 m													2	-
400 m					Guevara		Williams		Richards	Richards		Richards	6	5
800 m						Mutola					Jelimo		5	2
1500 m/Mile				Szekely									6	1
3000 m/5000 m		Szabó		Yegorova					Dibaba[40]				6	3
5000 m/10,000 m													-	-
100 m hurdles													8	-
400 m hurdles													4	-
3000 m s'chase													-	-
High jump													8	-
Pole vault										Isinbayeva		Isinbayeva	2	2
Long jump			Kotova										1	1
Triple jump								Lebedeva					2	1
Shot put													-	-
Discus throw													-	-
Javelin throw			Hattestad										3	1
Total	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	4	5	63
Winners	1	1	2	3	2	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	19

Winners

Year	Winners	Nations	Event(s)	Prize
1998 ()	Hicham El Guerrouj (1)	Morocco	1500 metres/mile	$333,333
	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	5000 metres/10,000 metres
	Marion Jones	United States	100 metres
1999 ()	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	800 metres	$500,000
	Gabriela Szabo	Romania	3000 metres/5000 metres
2000 ()	Hicham El Guerrouj (2)	Morocco	1500 metres/mile	12.5 kg gold bar
	Maurice Greene	United States	100 metres
	Trine Hattestad	Norway	Javelin throw
	Tatyana Kotova	Russia	Long jump
2001 ()	André Bucher	Switzerland	800 metres	8.33 kg Gold Bar
	Hicham El Guerrouj (3)	Morocco	1500 metres/mile/2000 metres
	Allen Johnson	United States	110 metres hurdles
	Marion Jones (2)	United States	100 metres
	Violeta Szekely	Romania	1500 metres
	Olga Yegorova	Russia	3000 metres/5000 metres
2002 ()	Hicham El Guerrouj (4)	Morocco	1500 metres	12.5 kg Gold Bar
	Ana Guevara	Mexico	400 metres
	Marion Jones (3)	United States	100 metres
	Félix Sánchez	Dominican Republic	400 metres hurdles
2003 ()	Maria Mutola	Mozambique	800 metres	$1,000,000
2004 ()	Christian Olsson	Sweden	Triple jump	$500,000
	Tonique Williams-Darling	Bahamas	400 metres
2005 ()	Tatyana Lebedeva	Russia	Triple jump	$1,000,000
2006 ()	Asafa Powell	Jamaica	100 metres	$249,999*
	Jeremy Wariner	United States	400 metres
	Sanya Richards	United States	400 metres
	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	5000 metres	$83,333*
	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia	5000 metres
	Irving Saladino	Panama	Long jump
2007 ()	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	Pole vault	$500,000
	Sanya Richards (2)	United States	400 metres
2008 (	Pamela Jelimo	Kenya	800 metres	$1,000,000
2009 ()	Sanya Richards (3)	United States	400 metres	$333,333
	Yelena Isinbayeva (2)	Russia	Pole vault
	Kenenisa Bekele (2)	Ethiopia	3000 metres/5000 metres

• The 2006 series had a split prize pot, with US$250,000 shared between the athletes who won at five meetings, and US$750,000 being shared among athletes who won at all six meetings.[37]

Events by year

Year	Men	Women	Total	Ref.
1998	200 metres	200 metres	13	[41]
	800 metres	800 metres
	5000 metres	3000 metres
	110 metres hurdles	400 metres hurdles
	3000 metres steeplechase	N/A
	long jump	high jump
	pole vault	N/A
	javelin throw	N/A
1999	200 metres	200 metres	13	[41][42]
	800 metres	800 metres
	5000 metres	3000 metres
	110 metres hurdles	400 metres hurdles
	3000 metres steeplechase	high jump
	long jump	N/A
	pole vault	N/A
javelin throw	N/A
2000	100 metres	100 metres	12	[43]
	1500 metres	1500 metres
	3000 metres	N/A
	400 metres hurdles	100 metres hurdles
	high jump	long jump
	pole vault	N/A
	shot put	javelin throw
2001	100 metres	100 metres	14	[44]
	800 metres	800 metres
	1500 metres	1500 metres
	3000 metres	3000 metres
	3000 metres steeplechase	N/A
	110 metres hurdles	400 metres hurdles
	long jump	high jump
	javelin throw	N/A
2002	100 metres	100 metres	12	[45]
	N/A	400 metres
	1500 metres	1500 metres
	3000 metres/5000 metres	3000 metres/5000 metres
	400 metres hurdles	100 metres hurdles
	pole vault	N/A
	triple jump	javelin throw
2003	100 metres	100 metres	12
	800 metres	800 metres
	3000 metres/5000 metres	1500 metres
	110 metres hurdles	400 metres hurdles
	pole vault	triple jump
	N/A	high jump
	javelin throw	N/A
2004	200 metres	100 metres	12
	800 metres	400 metres
	1500 metres	1500 metres
	N/A	3000 metres/5000 metres
	400 metres hurdles	100 metres hurdles
	triple jump	high jump
	discus throw	N/A
2005	100 metres	100 metres	11
	800 metres	800 metres
	1500 metres/1 mile	3000 metres/5000 metres
	110 metres hurdles	400 metres hurdles
	high jump	triple jump
	javelin throw	N/A
2006	100 metres	100 metres	10
	400 metres	400 metres
	5000 metres	5000 metres
	N/A	100 metres hurdles
	long jump	high jump
	javelin throw	N/A
2007	100 metres	100 metres	10
	1500 metres / Mile	400 metres
	110 metres hurdles	100 metres hurdles
	triple jump	high jump
	N/A	pole vault
	javelin throw	N/A
2008	100 metres	200 metres	11
	400 metres	N/A
	1500 metres	800 metres
	400 metres hurdles	100 metres hurdles
	long jump	high jump
	javelin throw	N/A
2009	100 metres	100 metres	10
	400 metres	400 metres
	3000 metres/5000 metres	N/A
	110 metres hurdles	100 metres hurdles
	N/A	high jump
	N/A	pole vault
	javelin throw	N/A

References

1. PLUS: TRACK AND FIELD; Golden League Format Unchanged. New York Times (2000-12-18). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
2. 1998 Grand Prix Standings. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
3. Grand Prix Schedule 2003. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
4. World Athletics Tour Results 2009. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
5. "IAAF to launch global Diamond League of 1 Day Meetings". IAAF. 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
6. Rowbottom, Mike (1997-11-22). Athletics: Golden Four extended with more money and meetings. The Independent. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
7. IAAF Ericsson $1 million dollar jackpot for Golden League. IAAF (1998-07-08). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
8. Paris joins Golden Few. IAAF (1999-03-04). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
9. 42 outdoor Meetings in 1999 IAAF Calendar - All Golden League Meets on a Wednesday. IAAF (1998-10-28). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
10. World Athletics Final – a new concept based on a tradition of quality. IAAF (2003-07-18). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
11. 6 Golden League Meetings from 2003-2005. IAAF (2002-09-13). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
12. The TDK Golden League – Past and Present. IAAF (2004-03-29). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
13. Twelve years of the IAAF Golden League. IAAF (2009-09-09). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
14. Giorgio Lo Giudice (3 May 1998). "la May madrina a Rio". La Gazzetta dello Sport, gazzetta.it. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
15. "Prossima tappa a Roma, l'ultimo atto a Berlino il 7 September". La Gazzetta dello Sport, gazzetta.it. 30 June 1999. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
16. 1999 Grand Prix Standings. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
17. "Melbourne lancia il Grand Prix". La Gazzetta dello Sport, gazzetta.it. 2 March 2000. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
18. 2000 Grand Prix Standings. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
19. "IAAF GOLDEN LEAGUE 2001". iaaf.org. 2001. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
20. 2001 Grand Prix Standings. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
21. "IAAF GOLDEN LEAGUE 2002". iaaf.org. 2002. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
22. Grand Prix Schedule 2002. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
23. "The IAAF Golden League – Past and Present". iaaf.org. 8 May 2003. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
24. "Golden League 2004 Results". iaaf.org. 2004. Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
25. Grand Prix Schedule 2004. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
26. "Compact calendar, bigger audiences - TDK Golden League 2005". iaaf.org. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
27. Grand Prix Schedule 2005. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
28. "Men's distance event added to 2006 IAAF Golden League". iaaf.org. 3 February 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
29. World Athletics Tour 2006. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
30. "One week until the $1 Million chase begins - IAAF Golden League 2007". iaaf.org. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
31. World Athletics Tour 2007. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
32. "Golden League Jackpot events confirmed for 2008". iaaf.org. 13 December 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
33. World Athletics Tour Results 2008. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
34. "ÅF Golden League Jackpot events confirmed for 2009". iaaf.org. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
35. Great fields in Bergen will help 2004 TDK Golden League start in style. IAAF (2004-06-04). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
36. Ten IAAF Golden League Events in 2006. IAAF (2005-11-28). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
37. Ramsak, Bob (2006-09-03). The Jackpot Story - IAAF Golden League. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
38. Selected quotes – IAAF Golden League launch press conference, Oslo, Norway. IAAF (2006-06-01). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
39. ‘6 out of 6’ required for $1 Million IAAF Golden League Jackpot in 2007. IAAF (2006-12-06). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
40. Won five of six events
41. Golden League Intro Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-11-17.
42. 1999 Bislett Games Archived 2012-08-17 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-11-17.
43. ISTAF 2000 Archived 2012-08-17 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-04-20.
44. Golden League 2001 Archived 2012-08-17 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-04-20.
45. Golden League 2002 Archived 2012-08-16 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-04-20.

External links

• 2009 IAAF Golden League official website (archived)