Stockholm , Sweden
The headquarter of World Athletics was located in where from Jul 1912 to 1946?
World Athletics World Athletics ( name since October 2019 , formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations , both abbreviated as the IAAF ) is the international governing body for the sport of athletics , covering track and field , cross country running , road running , racewalking , mountain running , and ultra running . Included in its charge are the standardization of rules and regulations for the sports , recognition and management of world records , and the organisation and sanctioning of athletics competitions , including the World Athletics Championships . The organisations president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom , who was elected in 2015 and re-elected unopposed in 2019 for a further four years . History . The process to found World Athletics began in Stockholm , Sweden , on 17 July 1912 soon after the completion of the 1912 Summer Olympics in that city . At that meeting , 27 representatives from 17 national federations agreed to meet at a congress in Berlin , Germany , the following year , overseen by Sigfrid Edström who was to become the fledgling organisations first president . The 1913 congress formally completed the founding of what was then known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation ( IAAF ) . It was headquartered in Stockholm from 1912 to 1946 , in London from 1946 to 1993 , and thereafter moved to its current location in Monaco . In 1926 , the IAAF created a commission to regulate all ball games which were played by hand , including basketball and handball . Subsequently , the International Amateur Handball Federation was founded in 1928 , and the International Basketball Federation was founded in 1932 . Beginning in 1982 , the IAAF passed several amendments to its rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for participating in international competitions . However , the organization retained the word amateur in its name until its 2001 congress , at which it changed its name to the International Association of Athletics Federations . In June 2019 the organization chose to rebrand as World Athletics , with a rollout beginning after the 2019 World Championships in Doha . Following repeated requests , World Athletics became the last body within the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations to make public its financial reports in 2020 . It revealed the organisation had revenue of around US$200 million spread over a four-year Olympic cycle , with around a fifth of that revenue coming from Olympic broadcasting rights . The reports showed a deficit in each of the non-Olympic years of 2017 and 2018 of around US$20 million . It also showed heavy dependence on its partnership with Japanese marketing agency Dentsu , which made up half of 2018s revenue . It also highlighted reserves of US$45 million at the end of 2018 , which would allow the organisation to remain solvent in the face of delays to the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic . World Athletics Day is celebrated on 7 May . Governance . World Athletics is headed by a president . The World Athletics Council has a total of 26 elected members , comprising one president , four vice-presidents ( one senior ) , the presidents of the six area associations , two members of the Athletes Commission and 13 Council members . Each member of the Council is elected for a four-year period by the World Athletics Congress , a biennial gathering of athletics officials that consists of the Council , Honorary Members , and up to three delegates from each of the national member federations . Chairpersons and member of Committees , which manage specialist portfolios , are also elected by the Congress . There are four committees : the Cross Country Committee , the Race Walking Committee , the Technical Committee , and the Womens Committee . A further three committees were launched in 2019 : Development , Governance and Competitions . The governance structure is outlined in the World Athletics Constitution , which may be amended by the Congress . The World Athletics Council appoints a chief executive officer ( CEO ) , who is focused on improving the coverage of the sport and the organisations commercial interests . This role was created and merged with the General Secretary role that had existed previously . British former athlete and businessman Jon Ridgeon was appointed to the role in December 2018 . Olivier Gers was the first person to officially hold the position in 2016 , succeeding the interim CEO/General Secretary Jean Gracia . In order to give active athletes a voice in the governance of the sport , World Athletics created the Athletes Commission . Athletes are elected to the commission by other athletes , typically held at the Congress attached to the World Athletics Championships . The commission chairperson and one other athlete of the opposite sex are given voting rights on the Council . The last election was held in October 2019 at the 2019 World Athletics Championships . Following doping and corruption issues , a Code of Ethics was agreed in 2013 and an Ethics Commission was appointed in 2014 . The Council appoints the chairperson from the elected members , and in turn the chairperson appoints a deputy chair . The Ethics Boards scope was limited in 2017 with the creation of the independent Athletics Integrity Unit , headed by Australias Brett Clothier , to oversee ethical issues and complaints at arms length . The International Athletics Foundation is a charity closely associated with World Athletics that engages in projects and programmes to develop the sport . Albert II , Prince of Monaco is the Honorary President and the role of IAF President is held by the World Athletics President . A World Athletics Heritage department was created in 2018 to maintain historic artefacts and display them through a physical gallery in Monaco , a virtual online gallery , and a travelling exhibition . The department also issues World Athletics Heritage Plaques to commemorate locations of historic interest to the sport . Presidents . There have been six presidents since the establishment of World Athletics : Athletes Commission . - Members elected in 2019 - Renaud Lavillenie ( FRA ) , 627 votes - Valerie Adams ( NZL ) , 613 votes - Bernard Lagat ( USA ) , 589 votes - Kevin Borlée ( BEL ) , 572 votes - Katerina Stefanidi ( GRE ) , 556 votes - Aisha Praught-Leer ( JAM ) , 438 votes - Existing members - Iñaki Gómez ( CAN ) - Kim Collins ( SKN ) - Adam Kszczot ( POL ) - Thomas Röhler ( GER ) - Ivana Španović ( SRB ) - Benita Willis ( AUS ) Chairpersons . - Athletes Commission : Iñaki Gómez ( CAN ) - Ethics Board : Michael Beloff ( GBR ) - Cross Country Committee : Carlos Cardoso ( POR ) - Race Walking Committee : Maurizio Damilano ( ITA ) - Technical Committee : Jorge Salcedo ( POR ) - Womens Committee : Esther Fittko ( GER ) - Athletics Integrity Unit : David Howman ( NZL ) Area associations . World Athletics has a total of 214 member federations divided into 6 area associations . Partner organisations . As of 1 November 2015 : - Association of International Marathons and Distance Races ( AIMS ) - International Association of Ultrarunners ( IAU ) - International Paralympic Committee ( IPC Athletics ) - International Trail Running Association ( ITRA ) - World Masters Athletics ( WMA ) - World Mountain Running Association ( WMRA ) - Elite Ltd ( for incorporation of statistics from all-athletics.com into World Athletics website ) Rules and regulations . Age . To allow athletes of different ages to compete against athletes of similar ability , several age categories are maintained . The open class of competition without age limit is defined as senior . For younger athletes , World Athletics organises events for under-20 athletes ( athletes aged 18 or 19 years on 31 December of the year of the competition ) as well as under-18 athletes ( athletes aged 16 or 17 years on 31 December of the year of the competition ) , historically referred to as junior and youth age groups , respectively . Age-group competitions over the age of 35 are organised by World Masters Athletics and are divided into five-year groupings . Doping . The organisation is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agencys World Anti-Doping Code and applies sanctions to athletes , coaches and other sportspeople who breach the code through doping or impeding any anti-doping actions . Sex . International level athletics competitions are mostly divided by sex and World Athletics applies eligibility rules for the womens category . World Athletics has regulations for intersex and transgender athletes . The differences of sex development ( DSD ) regulations apply to athletes who are legally female or intersex and have certain physiology . Currently , such DSD limitations only apply to athletes competing in track running events from 400 metres to the mile run , though World Athletics publicly remains open to extending this to other events based on new scientific study . A DSD athlete who is legally female or intersex will be subjected to specific rules if she has XY male chromosomes , testes rather than ovaries , have circulating testosterone within the typical male range ( 7.7 to 29.4 nmol/L ) , and are androgen-sensitive so that their body makes use of that testosterone . World Athletics requires that any such athlete must reduce their blood testosterone level to 5 nmol/L or lower for a six-month period before becoming eligible for international competition . World Athletics created these rules as a way to ensure fair competition in the womens category . In October 2019 , World Athletics changed the testosterone limit for transgender competitors , setting it at 5 nmol/L , from the previous 10 nmol/L , in order to bring it in line with the DSD regulations . According to regulations from October 2019 , in order for a trans woman to compete in the womens category : 3.2.1 she must provide a written and signed declaration , in a form satisfactory to the Medical Manager , that her gender identity is female ; 3.2.2 she must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Expert Panel ( on the balance of probabilities ) , in accordance with clause 4 , that the concentration of testosterone in her serum has been less than 5 nmol/L3 continuously for a period of at least 12 months ; and 3.2.3 she must keep her serum testosterone concentration below 5 nmol/L for so long as she wishes to maintain her eligibility to compete in the female category of competition . The rules have been challenged by affected athletes in the Court of Arbitration for Sport ( CAS ) , though no athlete has done so successfully . In May 2019 , CAS upheld the rules on the basis that discrimination against the minority of DSD athletes was proportional as a method of preserving access to the female category to a much larger majority of women without DSDs . Competitions . World Athletics organizes many major athletics competitions worldwide . One-day events . World Athletics became involved in annual one-day meetings as the sport began to professionalise in the late 1970s . Between 1978 and 1982 , World Athletics staged twelve Golden Events , all for men and principally in track running , which saw World Athletics offer prizes to encourage competition . Three years later in 1985 , an annual track and field circuit was created in the form of the IAAF Grand Prix , which linked existing top-level one-day meetings with a season-ending IAAF Grand Prix Final for a selection of mens and womens events . The IAAF World Cross Challenge followed in 1990 and began an annual series for cross country running . The track and field circuit was expanded in 1993 with the creation of the IAAF Grand Prix II level , and the IAAF Golden League in 1998 . World Athletics began recognising annual indoor track meets via the IAAF Indoor Permit Meetings series in 1997 , and in 1998 decathletes and heptathletes found seasonal support with the creation of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge . The World Cross Challenge was disbanded in 2000 and cross country reverted to a permit format via the IAAF Cross Country Permit Meetings . The IAAF Race Walking Challenge was initiated in 2003 to provide a seasonal calendar for racewalking . World Athletics reformed its track and field circuit in 2003 , with the IAAF World Outdoor Meetings series grouping five tiers of annual track and field competitions : the Golden League , IAAF Super Grand Prix , Grand Prix , Grand Prix II , and the IAAF World Athletics Final . The new final format was introduced with a new global performance ranking system for qualification and featured an increased programme of track and field events , mirroring the World Championships in Athletics programme bar the road events , combined events , relays , and the 10,000 metres . The final achieved gender parity in events in 2005 , with the inclusion of a womens 3000 metres steeplechase . The track and field circuit was rebranded as the IAAF World Athletics Tour in 2006 , which removed the global rankings and the IAAF Grand Prix II ( replaced with a level of meetings given permit status by continental governing bodies ) . With World Athletics having recognised the sport of mountain running in 2002 , the annual WMRA World Cup meetings received official sanctioning in 2006 . The IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final was created in 2007 to serve as a seasonal final for the Race Walking Challenge . World Athletics designed a sanctioning process for the road running competitions in 2008 , with races having to meet organisational requirements to achieve Gold or Silver status under the IAAF Road Race Label Events brand . This incorporated the World Marathon Majors ( a privately run series for major marathons initiated in 2006 ) within the Gold Label category . Road running was the last sport governed by World Athletics to receive seasonal sanctioning . The 2010 season saw several changes to World Athletics one-day governance . The World Athletics Tour was made defunct and replaced with three separate series : the 14-meet Diamond League as the top level of track meetings , the IAAF World Challenge as a second tier of track meetings , and the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge as the top level of hammer throwing contests ( as hammer was not included in the Diamond League ) . The Road Race Label grouping was also expanded that year with the creation of a Bronze label status . The Race Walking Challenge Final was removed from the racewalking schedule after 2012 , as the series focused on international championship performances . In 2016 , the IAAF World Indoor Tour was introduced as a replacement of the Indoor Permit Meetings series . The track and field circuit is due for further changes in 2020 , including an increase in the number of Diamond League meetings , the reduction of Diamond League events from 32 to 24 , reduction of the Diamond League television running time to 90 minutes , the creation of a one-day Diamond League final , and the relaunch of the World Challenge series as the World Athletics Continental Tour . Awards . The organisation hosts the annual World Athletics Awards , formerly the World Athletics Gala until 2017 , at the end of each year to recognise the achievements of athletes and other people involved in the sport . Members may also be inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame as part of the ceremony . The following awards are given : - Male Athlete of the Year - Female Athlete of the Year - Male Rising Star Award - Female Rising Star Award - Coaching Achievement Award - Distinguished Career Award - Womens Award - Presidents Award - Athletics Photograph of the Year Doping controversy . In 2015 , a whistleblower leaked World Athletics blood test records from major competitions . The records revealed that , between 2001 and 2012 , athletes with suspicious drug test results won a third of the medals in endurance events at the Olympics and World Championships—a total of 146 medals including 55 golds—but the World Athletics caught none of them . After reviewing the results , Robin Parisotto , a scientist and leading anti-doping expert , said , Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values . So many athletes appear to have doped with impunity , and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen . Craig Reedie , president of the World Anti-Doping Agency ( WADA ) , said his organisation was very disturbed by these new allegations .. . which will , once again , shake the foundation of clean athletes worldwide , and that its independent commission will investigate the claims . Around the same time , the University of Tübingen in Germany claimed that World Athletics suppressed publication of a 2011 report in which [ h ] undreds of athletes , as many as a third of the worlds top athletes , admitted violating anti-doping rules . On 1 November 2015 , former World Athletics president Lamine Diack was arrested in France and is under investigation on suspicion of corruption and money laundering . Diack allegedly accepted $1.2 million from the Russian athletics federation to cover up the positive doping tests of at least six Russian athletes in 2011 . In November 2015 , WADA published its report , which found systemic failures in the World Athletics had prevented an effective anti-doping programme and concluded that Russia should be banned from competing in international competitions because of its athletes test results . The report continued that the World Athletics allowed the conduct to occur and must accept its responsibility and that corruption was embedded in the organization . In January 2016 , as a result of the doping scandal and WADAs report , the World Athletics biggest sponsor , Adidas , announced that it was ending its sponsorship deal with the World Athletics four years early . The BBC reported that as a result World Athletics would lose $33 million ( £23 million ) worth of revenue . The 11-year sponsorship deal with Adidas was due to run until 2019 . World-record holding sprinter Michael Johnson described the scandal as more serious than that faced by FIFA . In February 2016 , Nestlé announced that it was ending its World Athletics sponsorship . In June 2016 , following a meeting of the IAAFs ruling council , World Athletics upheld its ban on Russias track and field team from entering the Rio de Janeiro Olympics . In February 2017 , All-Russia Athletic Federation was disqualified by decision of the World Athletics Council for 8 years for the creation of a doping system . World Athletics has since resisted demands that Russia be re-instated , on the basis that the country repeatedly failed to satisfy all the agreed criteria . The decision was supported by Sean Ingle of The Guardian who wrote in a column that World Athletics should maintain their ban on Russia through the 2016 Olympics in Rio . That meant Russian athletes could compete at all major events in the following years , including the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London and the 2018 European Championships in Berlin . In September 2018 , World Athletics faced a legal challenge by Russia to overturn the suspension after the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency , but Hugo Lowell of the i newspaper reported the countrys status would not change . The legal case was later dropped .