Let the games commence! IAAF World Championships in Helsinki

Nearly 2,000 athletes gathering from over 200 countries

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At an IAAF meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in April 2002, the Finnish delegation could hardly believe their ears or contain their delight when they discovered that Helsinki had beaten out competition from Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Moscow, and Rome to host the 2005 IAAF World Champioinships in Athletics - and for a second time!
      The World Championships, which were inaugurated in Helsinki in 1983, are the third-largest sporting event on the planet, after only the Summer Olympics and the finals of football's World Cup. It was a massive feather in Helsinki's cap and promised the city the biggest single event it has ever staged - including the 1952 Olympics and the 1975 CSCE summit.
      The World Championships can lay claim to the boast of being "the most international sporting event ever staged", since 209 countries will be represented, in the shape of more than 1,900 athletes and over 1,000 coaches and administrators. Add to this the more than 3,300 media representatives expected here to cover the event, which will reach a possible 4 billion people in 180 countries, and one gets some idea of the scale of the gathering.
     
It all kicks off on Saturday with an expansive opening ceremony, though perhaps not quite on the scale of recent Olympic extravaganzas.
      There will of course be lasers and fireworks, and appearances from past athletics stars such as Heike Drechsler and Michael Johnson, and music from name Finnish bands like Nightwish and Apocalyptica.
      President Tarja Halonen does the honours with the opening address, and Finnish conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen has written a fanfare especially for the event. The opening ceremony will be in two parts, with the formal business before the evening's competitions and the fun and games and light-shows after the running, jumping, and throwing has ceased at 10.15 pm.
     
Helsinki did not exactly get off lightly when winning the games. The IAAF held the organising committee to a verbal promise that the Olympic Stadium would get a new roof, and this - covering the East Stand on the back straight - already ran into trouble with the preservationists who claimed it would alter the look of what is after all a listed building from the 1930s.
      After this problem was resolved and the money was made available - in part from a city administration that would have had other things to spend it on - it transpired that yet another roof would have to be placed over the heads of all the media personnel. This one is temporary, and covers part of the South Curve, close to the arena's famous 72-metre tower.
     
Security is certain to be tight all round, although Finland does not consider itself a prime target for terror attacks.
      Anyone planning to attend the games, however, is advised to allow plenty of time for the usual checks at the gate, and to avoid carrying too many objects into the stadium. Umbrellas are a definite no-no, in spite of the fickle nature of Finnish August weather.
     
The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) also found themselves saddled with a challenge: covering the games is a massive task for a relatively small public broadcaster, and it must be remembered that these days it is competition organisers who pick up the lion's share of the revenue for TV and radio rights.
      The World Championships are naturally a prestige event and a shop-window, but they come at a price: YLE is very experienced at covering athletics, but resources have naturally had to be borrowed and bought from fellow-broadcasters within the EBU, and the host broadcaster must initially pick up the tab.
     
The presence of so many media representatives, corporate partners, and other accredited persons has reduced the space in the stadium somewhat, with around 25,000 tickets a day being made available to the public, well below the actual capacity of the venue.
      It is likely that all the evening competitions will eventually sell out, but ticket prices appear to have frightened off some foreign visitors - around 4,000 tickets were still available for most nights earlier this week.
     
We, at the International Edition, shall be covering the World Championships, though as befits our normal remit, we shall concentrate mainly on the Finnish aspects - the wire services and other international media are there to provide a full results service.
      Finland's main hopes for a medal would look to rest with the right arm of the young javelinist Tero Pitkämäki, whose recent throws have made him more than just a patriotic favourite for the event.
      If he does come through, it will only be a continuation of a Finnish tradition: Tiina Lillak won the women's javelin at the very first World Championships 22 years ago, and since then Seppo Räty (Rome 1987), Aki Parviainen (Sevilla 1999), and Kimmo Kinnunen (Tokyo 1991) have all won the men's event.
      In fact Finland's gold medals have all come either from the slightly less glamorous events of javelin throwing or distance walking: Sari Essayah won gold in Stuttgart in 1993 and Valentin Kononen walked to victory in Gothenburg in 1995.
     
In a sense, the games get off to a false start today, as the Finnish capital will be filled with runners.
      The 25th holding of the Helsinki City Marathon will bring out more than 6,000 hardy men and women from 35 countries, and will be a major presence in the city centre and out towards Espoo, not least in terms of the likely problems as police direct traffic. No roads will be completely closed off, but delays are a certainty.
      The race starts at 3 pm and will thus affect the Friday evening rush-hour and those escaping the city to their summer cottages. Some bus schedules may also be altered. Details from the Helsinki City Transport site at www.hkl.fi.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Tero Pitkämäki gives storm warning ahead of IAAF World Championships (1.8.2005)
  IAAF promises strictest ever doping tests for 2005 Athletics World Championships in Helsinki (3.12.2004)
  Refurbishing of Olympic Stadium more costly than anticipated (23.8.2004)
  IAAF demands additional roofing for Helsinki Olympic Stadium (20.9.2002)

Links:
  10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Helsinki 6.-14.8.2005
  World Championships on City of Helsinki pages (contains some useful information)
  Helsinki City Marathon, 5.8.2005
  Helsinki City Transport (World Championships)
  Helsinki City Transport (Marathon, in Finnish)

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