Monaco - At the heart of the temporary collection of the IAAF Centenary Historic Exhibition, Museu Olímpic i de l’Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch, Barcelona, Spain, (Saturday 13 October to Sunday 25 November 2012) are the artefacts related to World record performances and performers, and some of the great rivalries which have taken place since the foundation of the IAAF in 1912.
Part 1:
The athletics achievements of two of the IAAF Vice-Presidents Sergey Bubka and Seb Coe are celebrated. One of the poles with which the current World Pole Vault record (6.14) was set in Sestriere, Italy, 31 July 1994 will be on display, along with the competition numbers from Bubka’s six outdoor World championship victories. Coe’s spikes and competition vest from his second Olympic 1500m gold medal in Los Angeles 1984 will be the focus for middle distance fans. Alongside those are some marvellous items from Coe’s rivals Steve Ovett (competition vest and 800m gold medal, Moscow 1980) and Steve Cram (1500m World Champs gold medal, Helsinki 1983).
While we are on a middle distance theme the exhibition boasts a programme from the first sub-4 minute Mile in Oxford on 6 May 1954, autographed by the famous protagonists Roger Bannister, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Representing the current middle distance generation we have the competition bodysuit and spikes from David Rudisha’s 800m World record (1:41.01) in Rieti, Italy, 29 August 2010.
Two victories of two of the all-time greats of the women’s two lap race are represented by Cuba’s Ana Fidelia Quirot’s World championships competition bodysuit and framed number from Gothenburg 1995, and Mozambique’s Maria Mutola’s competition vest and number from her third World Indoor title, Budapest 2004.
Stepping back into the infield, Jan Zelezny’s javelin with which he set the current World record (98.48m), Jena, Germany, 26 May 1996, along with his competition number from his 1995 World championships victory, will be on show. The competition vest of Zelezny’s arch rival Steve Backley from his third European title, Budapest 1998, the competition numbers of Finnish World Championship Javelin gold medallists Aki Parviainen (Seville 1999) and Tero Pitkämäki (Osaka 2007), and the competition T-Shirt and throwing boots (Daegu 2011) of Norway’s two-time Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen help emphasise the exhibition’s quality.
Certain to put the exhibition visitor into a spin are the contributions of two of Germany’s discus throwing greats Robert Harting (qualification vest, London 2012, and training shoe) and Lars Riedel, who between them have won seven World and two Olympic titles.
Three female jumping greats have loaned items from World Championship victories. Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva has provided her indoor vaulting shoes from Istanbul 2012, while high jumping aces Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist and Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic have respectively presented a framed competition vest and gold medal (Helsinki 2005), and a competition vest and briefs (Osaka 2007).
One of our featured wall displays (just fitting under the barely 5m+ ceiling of the museum) emphasises the extraordinary talent required to reach the current zenith of pole vaulting and high jumping, with life-size photographs showing Isinbayeva and Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova clearing their World record heights.
Not forgetting the men’s current High Jump World record, Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor’s competition vest from his 2.45m leap in Salamanca, Spain, 27 July 1993, will also be on show.
And there is so much more to look forward to…
‘PART 2: World records and great rivalries’, follows tomorrow
The IAAF Centenary Historic Exhibition, one of the core celebrations of 100 years of Athletics Excellence, puts the IAAF and the sport of Athletics into a historical context, illustrating their remarkable legacy with the greatest ever assembled collection of artefacts from our sport’s history.
The IAAF Centenary Historic Exhibition is open to the public for six weeks from Saturday 13 October, with an official opening ceremony (by invitation only) on the evening of Monday 15 October.
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