ÅF Golden League

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The ÅF Golden League (previously IAAF Golden League) is an annual series of athletics meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The series was formed to increase the profile of the leading athletics competitions. Athletes (in selected events) who win their event at all six meetings take a share of a USD 1 million jackpot. In addition, events at Golden League meetings scored more Grand Prix points than other Grand Prix meetings.

1 History
2 Jackpot winners
3 Meetings
4 External links

[edit] History

The first Golden League season was held in 1998, consisting of the meetings of Oslo, Rome, Monaco, Zürich, Brussels and Berlin.

In 1999 a seventh event, Meeting Gaz de France, at St-Denis, Paris was added.

In 2000 and 2001, the USD 1 million was reduced to 50 kg of gold bars and athletes only had to win at 5 out of 7 meetings to qualify for the jackpot.

In 2003, the 50 kg of gold bars was reverted back to USD 1 million and Monaco was dropped from the league after it was awarded the IAAF World Athletics Final.

In 2004, the Bislett Games were moved from Oslo to Bergen due to the redevelopment of the Bislett stadion.

For the 2006 Golden League, the total prize pool remained at USD 1 million, but the award structure had been changed:

Athletes who won any five of the six events would share in a purse of USD 500,000.
The remaining USD 500,000 would be divided among athletes who won all six meetings.

In 2007, the Jackpot of USD 1 million were only to be shared amongst those athletes who won at all six meetings. In case no athlete had managed to win all six meetings, USD 500,000 would have been shared amongst those who won at five of the six meetings.[1]

In 2008 IAAF signed a two year agreement with the Swedish company ÅF for title sponsorship, thus renaming IAAF Golden League to ÅF Golden League.

Various rules have changed as the new competition finds its feet. The list of events which qualify for the jackpot is different each year, but there are usually six men's events and six (four for 2008) women's. For the year 2008, the disciplines are:

Men: 100m, 400m, 1500m, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump, Javelin Throw;
Women: 200m, 800m, 100m Hurdles, High Jump.

[edit] Jackpot winners

Year	Winners	Event(s)
1998 Details	Hicham El Guerrouj (1)	1500 m/mile
	Haile Gebreselassie	5000 m/10000 m
	Marion Jones	100 m
1999	Wilson Kipketer	800 m
1999	Gabriela Szabo	3000 m/5000 m
2000 Details	Hicham El Guerrouj (2)	1500 m/mile
	Maurice Greene	100 m
	Trine Hattestad	javelin
	Tatyana Kotova	long jump
2001 Details	André Bucher	800 m
	Hicham El Guerrouj (3)	1500 m/mile/2000 m
	Allen Johnson	110 m hurdles
	Marion Jones (2)	100 m
	Violeta Szekely	1500 m
	Olga Yegorova	3000 m/5000 m
2002 Details	Hicham El Guerrouj (4)	1500 m
	Ana Guevara	400 m
	Marion Jones (3)	100 m
	Felix Sánchez	400 m hurdles
2003 Details	Maria Mutola	800 m
2004 Details	Christian Olsson	triple jump
2004 Details	Tonique Williams-Darling	400 m
2005 Details	Tatyana Lebedeva	triple jump
2006 Details	Asafa Powell	100 m
	Jeremy Wariner	400 m
	Sanya Richards	400 m
2007 Details	Yelena Isinbayeva	pole vault
	Sanya Richards (2)	400 m

[edit] Meetings

Current meetings for 2008

Date	Meet	Stadium	City	Country
1 June	ISTAF	Olympiastadion	Berlin	Germany
6 June	Bislett Games	Bislett stadion	Oslo	Norway
11 July	Golden Gala	Stadio Olimpico	Rome	Italy
18 July	Meeting Gaz de France	Stade de France	Saint-Denis	France
29 August	Weltklasse Zürich	Letzigrund	Zürich	Switzerland
5 September	Memorial van Damme	King Baudouin Stadium	Brussels	Belgium