IAAF honours Owens and 11 others with heritage plaques
MONACO: Global athletics will begin honouring its heritage with plaques at historically significant locations around the world, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced on Sunday.
American sprinter and jumper Jesse Owens is among a dozen athletes selected for the first plaques for achievements at lesserknown stadiums.
“The IAAF World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a location-based recognition which highlights, celebrates and links together iconic and historic athletics competitions, careers, performances, cities, venues, landmarks and culture around the world,” IAAF President Sebastian Coe said at a special ceremony on Sunday.
Representatives and family members of seven of the athletes presented Coe with historic artefacts from their relatives’ careers for inclusion in the IAAF Heritage Collection.The plaques will be displayed at a location closely associated with each recipient.
NURMI AMONG GREATS TO BE HONOURED
One of those is Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Owens set four world records in the sprints, long jump and hurdles in 45 minutes on one afternoon in 1935.
Others receiving initial plaques are British distance runner Emil Voigt, Swedish javelin thrower Eric Lemming, Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi, American hurdler and field events specialist Mildred Didrikson, Japanese long and triple jumper Chuhei Nambu, Dutch sprinter-hurdler Fanny Blankers-Koen, Czech distance runner Emil Zatopek, Brazilian triple jumper Adhemar Da Silva, Australian sprinter Betty Cuthbert, Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila and Polish sprinter Irena Szewinska.