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]
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]
^PLUS: TRACK AND FIELD; Golden League Format Unchanged. New York Times (2000-12-18). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
^Cite error: The named reference GP98 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference WOM03 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference WAT09 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"IAAF to launch global Diamond League of 1 Day Meetings". IAAF. 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
^Rowbottom, Mike (1997-11-22). Athletics: Golden Four extended with more money and meetings. The Independent. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
^ abIAAF Ericsson $1 million dollar jackpot for Golden League. IAAF (1998-07-08). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
^Paris joins Golden Few. IAAF (1999-03-04). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
^42 outdoor Meetings in 1999 IAAF Calendar - All Golden League Meets on a Wednesday. IAAF (1998-10-28). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
^World Athletics Final – a new concept based on a tradition of quality. IAAF (2003-07-18). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
^6 Golden League Meetings from 2003-2005. IAAF (2002-09-13). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
^Cite error: The named reference TDK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Twelve years of the IAAF Golden League. IAAF (2009-09-09). Retrieved 2019-10-01.
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