Six global champions were in City Center Doha this evening for the opening ceremony of the IAAF Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhibition.

The exhibition, the largest ever of its kind, celebrates the history of the IAAF World Athletics Championships whose first edition took place in Helsinki, Finland, 36 years ago, and which remain today the third most important sporting event on the planet.

From left: IAAF Heritage Director Chris Turner, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Abderrahman Samba and IAAF President Sebastian at the IAAF Heritage Exhibition launch in Doha (Karim Jaafar ) © Copyright

The exhibition, which occupies 400m2 of space in the largest shopping mall in Qatar will be open daily to the public for six months, closing on Monday 7 October. During this time the Asian Athletics Championships, Doha Diamond League and IAAF World Athletics Championships will be hosted by Doha, drawing thousands of athletes, official, media and fans to Qatar

 

1976 OLYMPIC MARATHON SHOES

During the ceremony, donations and loans of kit were made by six global champions.

Four-time Olympic champion Lasse Viren donated the pair of Onitsuka Tiger ASICS shoes which he wore when running the marathon at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

 

Olympic championships Lasse Viren and Sebastian Coe at the IAAF Heritage exhibition opening in Doha (Karim Jaafar) © Copyright

Seb Coe then stepped-up to hand over his 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games spikes and national vest from his second 1500m Olympic victory.