IAAF World Championships End in Helsinki

(ATR) Teams from the United States and Russia will head home the as the big medal winners from the 10th IAAF World Championships. Bad weather and a relatively clean sheet on doping are two of the prominent takeaways from Helsinki.

The championships, which ended Sunday, were hit with the worst weather in the 23 year history of the world championships. The most severe storm in 30 years hit Helsinki on Tuesday, and delayed events that evening by more than two hours. Some events had to be postponed until later in the week, the first that events happened since the start of the world championships, held in Helsinki in1983.

IAAF Communications Director Nick Davies tells Around the Rings "that it is fair to say that Helsinki was struck by freak weather this time".

Davies says all previous major competitions held here - from the Olympics in 1952, have been held at exactly the same time of year, which coincides with the last 2 weeks of the traditional Finnish holiday period, "and the weather has been mostly fine".

The world wide fight against doping may be having an effect on Athletics. So far at these world championships only one athlete was caught using a banned substance. Indian discuss thrower Neelam Singh tested positive for pemoline which is a stimulant. She faces a minimum two year suspension.

Nothing has come of reports of intravenous injections lodged against the Czech team.

The United States tops the medal table with 24 medals, while 38 other nations have earned medals at these world championships.

Organizers report the number of tickets sold was 337, 335. Antti Pihlakoski, the chief executive of the Local Organizing Committee, said that ticket sales were down 10 per cent as a result of the bad weather.

The city of Helsinki was awarded the first IAAF World Athletics City Award. Lamine Diack presented the award to Helsinki mayor Jussi Pajunen in recognition of the support the city offered for these world championships and for the continued support that Helsinki has shown to world Athletics since the 1952 Olympics.

The ruling IAAF Council, in a meeting on Saturday approved increasing the size of a manufacturer's logo on athlete uniforms. The changes take place immediately.

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