IAAF Diamond League

IAAF Diamond League

Current season or competition: 2011 Samsung Diamond League
Sport	Athletics
Founded	2010
Continent	Europe, Asia, North America (IAAF)
Official website	Diamond League

The Samsung Diamond League is an annual series of track and field meetings held from 2010 onwards, beginning with the 2010 IAAF Diamond League.^[1] It is organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and was designed to replace the IAAF Golden League, which was held annually since 1998.

While the Golden League was formed to increase the profile of the leading European athletics competitions, the Diamond League's aim is to "enhance the worldwide appeal of athletics by going outside Europe for the first time."^[1] In addition to the original Golden League members and other traditional European meetings, the series includes events in the United States, China and Qatar.

Scoring System

Each one of the thirty-two disciplines (sixteen for male athletes, sixteen for females) is staged a total of seven times during the season. The top three athletes at each meeting are awarded points, and in the case of the Final meeting of the discipline the points are doubled.

1st place: 4 points (Final: 8 points)
2nd place: 2 points (Final: 4 points)
3rd place: 1 points (Final: 2 points)

The athlete with the highest number of points in each discipline at the end of the season wins "The Diamond Race". In case of equality on points, the number of victories decides. If there still is a tie, the better result at the Final meeting for that discipline (as per 2011, Zürich or Brussels) decides. For an athlete to win "The Diamond Race" and its associated prize, he/she must compete in the Final of their event discipline.

Meetings

The following fourteen meetings have been confirmed for 2011:^[1]

Date	Meet	Stadium	City	Country
05-06 !6 May	Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix	Qatar SC Stadium	Doha	Qatar
05-15 !15 May	Shanghai Golden Grand Prix	Shanghai Stadium	Shanghai	China
05-26 !26 May	Golden Gala	Stadio Olimpico	Rome	Italy
06-04 !4 June	Prefontaine Classic	Hayward Field	Eugene	United States
06-09 !9 June	Bislett Games	Bislett Stadion	Oslo	Norway
06-11 !11 June	Adidas Grand Prix	Icahn Stadium	New York City	United States
06-30 !30 June	Athletissima	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise	Lausanne	Switzerland
07-08 !8 July	Meeting Areva	Stade de France	Saint-Denis	France
07-10 !10 July	Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix	Alexander Stadium	Birmingham	United Kingdom
07-22 !22 July	Herculis	Stade Louis II	Fontvieille	Monaco
07-29 !29 July	DN Galan	Stockholm Olympic Stadium	Stockholm	Sweden
08-05 !5 & 6 August	London Grand Prix	Crystal Palace	London	United Kingdom
09-08 !8 September	Weltklasse Zürich	Letzigrund	Zürich	Switzerland
09-16 !16 September	Memorial Van Damme	King Baudouin Stadium	Brussels	Belgium

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "IAAF to launch global Diamond League of 1 Day Meetings". IAAF. 2 March 2009. http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=101/newsid=49541.html. Retrieved 2 March 2009. 

External links

• Official website
• IAAF Diamond League agrees a global calendar of 14 cities for 2010 IAAF, 16 June 2009