Qatar's "emergence
as a global sporting hub gained further clout when Doha was chosen as
host city for the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships on Tuesday," according to Martyn Herman of REUTERS. The "fast-growing city alongside the Arabian Gulf will become the first from the Middle East to stage the blue riband event." Overlooked
for the '17 championships in favor of London, the Qatari capital was
selected "ahead of rival bids" from 1992 Olympic host Barcelona and Eugene, Oregon, "often referred to as Track Town." Doha
earned 12 votes to Eugene's nine and Barcelona's six in the "initial
secret ballot of the IAAF Council before winning 15-12 over Eugene in
the second vote." It is a
"timely boost for Qatar," which has been "mired in the controversy"
surrounding FIFA's decision to award the
desert nation the 2022 World Cup. However, IAAF VP and Doha 2019 bid chief Dahlan Al-Hamad said the choice of the city was a "great
opportunity" to take athletics to new regions. The 17th World Championships will "take place at
the newly-modernized Khalifa Stadium in early October, later than usual,
to spare competitors from the worst of the searing desert heat" (REUTERS, 11/18). In London, Sean Ingle reported Qatar Olympic Committee Senior Adviser Aphrodite Moschoudi highlighted the fact that the refurbished Khalifa International Stadium, "which is central to both the plans for 2019 and the 2022 World Cup," will give organizers the opportunity to "use cooling technology if necessary." Moschoudi added, "But we don't think you will need it." The IAAF's decision was "condemned" by Human Rights Watch Middle East researcher Nicholas McGeehan, who said it showed the organization's "callous indifference" to workers' rights in the country. McGeehan: "The IAAF must surely have known that Qatar's labor system remains deeply exploitative when it took today's decision so this raises the question as to how important it considers the lives and welfare of the migrant workers on whom the 2019 world championships will depend" (GUARDIAN, 11/18).
QATAR RECORD QUESTIONED: In London, Ingle reported in a separate piece human rights organizations have "condemned the decision to award the 2019 World Athletics Championships to Doha and warned that the IAAF has 'given its seal of approval to Qatar's callous indifference'" to workers' rights. Concerns were expressed that Qatar, "which is embroiled in controversy" over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup, "has been rewarded with another global event despite its ill-treatment of migrant workers, hundreds of whom have died while building sporting facilities." Amnesty International has urged the IAAF to put "plans in place to ensure that workers building the athletes' village for Doha 2019 are given better treatment." Amnesty researcher Mustafa Qadri said, "Time is running out to address widespread migrant labor abuses in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup tournament. The IAAF must now make clear what plans it has in place to ensure no such abuses occur in the 2019 World Athletics Championships. This year the Qatari authorities have announced some welcome if limited
reforms to labor law and practices. But few concrete steps have been
taken to implement even these reforms. There are real concerns both
events will take place under a shadow of migrant-labor abuse" (GUARDIAN, 11/18).
SPANISH FEDERATION COMPLAINS: In Madrid, Josep Margalef reported Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) President José María Odriozola complained about the Qatari bid team's tactics, saying, "Qatar offered $37 million to the IAAF after the deadline. We said it was illegal but... On November 7 the deadline passed and they said they had presented the offer when the evaluation committee visited but until today it wasn't made public. It is an incentive: $30 million from a bank over five years and another seven million for television and marketing rights" (AS, 11/18).
SCHEDULE CHANGE?: The London TELEGRAPH reported organizers plan to
"move the event back to the end of September which sets up a potential
headache for TV schedulers with the Rugby World Cup, NFL and Premier League
season all in full swing" (TELEGRAPH, 11/18).
