Diack Grateful at Dakar IAAF Meeting

Retiring IAAF president Lamine Diack began his farewell tour in his hometown this week.

The IAAF Council met in Dakar, Senegal for the third time, and Diack acknowledged its meaning to him in his remarks.

"It is a source of great pride and satisfaction for me to be able to welcome my colleagues from the council to Dakar for the last time," said Diack, according to the IAAF website, "because the next few editions are set for Monaco and Beijing, and I will then step down as president in August 2015."

His term will end at the conclusion of the IAAF Championships in Beijing next year.

"I have known some of my council friends since 1976 when I first arrived at the IAAF Council as senior vice president, and others more recently, but I wanted to say a sincere thank you to them for all the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication they show on a daily basis in service of the sport of athletics."

Diack, by virtue of his presidency, is also an IOC member.

Also at the meeting, the council reviewed a timetable for next year’s event at the Bird's Nest in Beijing. The event opens on Saturday, August 22 and concludes on Sunday, August 30.

Technical delegate Jose Maria Odriozola says the events were scheduled " so as to concentrate the most dramatic action of finals into evening sessions of approximately three hours duration."

"Nonetheless, although we are keen to make this event as exciting as possible," said Odriozola, "we have always given the first priority to the athletes when planning the timetable.

"We want them to be able to perform under optimum conditions."

Click here to download the schedule for the 2015 IAAF Championships.

Written by Nick Devlin

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