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 Eugene, the second largest city in the state of Oregon, lost out to
Doha for the right to host the 2019 championships at a secret ballot
held in Monaco earlier this year.
But the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF)
Council announced after a meeting in Beijing on Thursday that it had
decided to bypass the usual bidding process and award the 2021
edition to Eugene.
IAAF President Lamine Diack said the decision to skip the normal
bidding process had been made after the sport's world governing body
had heard submissions from the governor of Oregon, the U.S. Olympic
Committee (USOC) and television broadcaster NBC about the benefits
of taking the championships to the United States.
"In granting the championships to Eugene the IAAF Council have made
a clear choice on a strategic decision that enables us to take
advantage of a unique opportunity that may never arise again,
whereby public authorities, the private sector, the national Olympic
Committee, NBC and a particularly enthusiastic public are joining
forces," Diack said.
"Although this decision departs from the usual procedure, I am
delighted that my Council colleagues understood the enormous
opportunity presented to us to access a key market and have taken a
decision in the interest of the global development of our sport."
The IAAF said it was not the first time the world championships had
been awarded to a city without a full bidding process, saying the
most recent case was to award the 2007 event to Osaka, Japan.
The world championships, currently held every two years, were first
conducted in Helsinki in 1983. Beijing will host the championships
this year with the next edition to be held in London in 2017.
Thursday's unexpected announcement comes just three months after the
U.S. Olympic Committee named Boston as its candidate city for the
2024 Summer Olympics.
The United States has not hosted the Summer Olympics since 1996,
partly because of a long-running feud over television rights and
sponsorship, but the mood has softened since the USOC and the
International Olympic Committee reached an agreement two years ago
on revenue sharing.
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Nicknamed TrackTown USA, Eugene and the city's University of Oregon
have been the site of the past two U.S. Olympic trials and will host
the 2016 competition to select the American team for the Rio de
Janeiro Olympics.
It recently held the IAAF world junior championships and is the site
of the annual Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting.
Numerous national championships also have been held in Eugene and
the 2016 world indoor championships are scheduled for nearby
Portland, Oregon's largest city.
"I thank President Diack, the Council and USATF President Stephanie
Hightower and CEO Max Siegel in supporting the bid," said Vin
Lananna, who led Eugene's bid for the championships.
"We promise to deliver an outstanding championships for the sport of
track and field in America and around the world."
(This version of the story adds details and quotes)
(Reporting by Julian Linden in Singapore; editing by Sudipto
Ganguly)
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