London Olympics gold medallists (from left) Christian Taylor, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Brittney Reese and Allyson Felix during their visit to ‘Olympics Past and Present Exhibition’ at the 2013 Diamond League Doha.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
For the Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF), the current year (2014) is its fifty-first anniversary since its founding in 1963.
From a zero background and following more than 25 years of seeking its orientation and the means to develop, QAF has gone on to create a respectable number of athletics heroes in the past 20 years, with two Olympic medals and five podium finishes at the World Outdoor Championships, as well as four more medals at World Indoor Championships, and a men’s senior and a men’s junior world record among other accolades, lighting up that path of glory.
For Doha and its athletics meeting, 2014 marks the 17th year of existence—in the last five seasons as a proud member of the IAAF’s innovative Diamond League series, the sole city in the whole Arab world to relish this distinguished privilege. All these years, hundreds of athletics heroes and icons have pinpointed Doha as their favourite destination and the place to commence a long outdoor season. For dozens of them, the Doha meeting has been the first step on the stairway to global competition laurels.
The ‘3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum’, an institution under the umbrella of Qatar Museums Authority, will be organizing ‘Qatar on Track’ exhibition to mark the fifth edition of Diamond League Doha. The exhibition summons up selected special moments of the athletics history in Qatar, featuring footage and interviews from Qatari athletes Talal Mansour, the 1993 World Indoors bronze medalist in 60m, High Jump multi-medalist Mutaz Barshim, as well as the most important medals won by Qatari athletes in international competitions.
In addition, contemporary stars participating in the Diamond League Doha 2014 will contribute objects to the displays. The exhibition will be open from May 7-9 at InterContinental City, the official hotel of the 2014 Doha Diamond League.