The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is scheduled to award the 2015 Championships at the meeting of its ruling Council in November and then officially open the bidding for 2017 in January next year.

There had been speculation that the IAAF may award 2015 and 2017 together by giving one edition of the Championships to Beijing and the other to London.

But IAAF President Lamine Diack claimed that there is so much interest in 2017 that they have given an undertaking to potential bidders that they will not do this.

He told insidethegames: "It would not be fair because several other leading cities have told us that they want to bid for the 2017 World Championships."

Doha, Istanbul and Rome are all expected to also bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

Diack, who is here to attend the inaugurual Summer Youth Olymic Games, is also investigating the possibility of a bid from an African city following the success of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

Africa has never hosted the Championships before.

He said: "It is something that we will look at.

"It is possible that a city from South Africa or Morocco may bid."

The success of last year's World Championships in Berlin - when sell-out crowds at the Olympiastadion watched Jamaica's Usain Bolt break his world records for the 100 and 200 metres - has reignited interest in the event.

A total of 417,156 tickets were sold over the nine-day period, and estimates placed the total visitor spend in the city at around €120 million (£98 million/$152 million), for an event which had a budget of €49.8 million (£40.7 million/$63 million) 

Beijing and London are both proposing to hold the 2015 Championships in their city's respective Olympic Stadiums.

Diack said: "We are lucky to have such two great cities bidding for the event."



Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Olympics at its signature Bird's Nest stadium, is an attractive option and offers potentially lucrative sponsorship opportunities.

But there is a groundswell of opinion among leading IAAF officials that London, which is due to stage the 2012 Olympics, deserves the opportunity to host the event having produced some of the sport's greatest stars, including the likes of Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Jonathan Edwards and Paula Radcliffe.

Britain has never hosted a World or European Championships.

They were awarded the 2005 World Championships but embarrassingly had to give the event back to the IAAF after Tony Blair's Government failed to keep its promise to build a new stadium to host it at Picketts Lock.

The decision threatened to ruin London's fledgling campaign for the 2012 Olympics and it was only when Coe, the chairman of the bid, promised Diack that by awarding the capital the Games it would ensure a legacy for athletics that the tide turned away from Paris.

Many officials within the IAAF believe that awarding the Championships to London would be a suitable reward for Coe, a member of the world governing body's Council, who has fought valiantly to ensure that the future of the track is guaranteed after London 2012.

UK Athletics is confident that it is close to reaching an agreement with the Government and London Mayor Boris Johnson for them to underwrite the £20 million ($31 million) costs of hosting the World Championships.

An IAAF team is due to travel to both Beijing and London in the next few weeks to inspect each city's facilities and prepare a report for the Council to study before they bid.

The 2011 World Championships are due to be held in Daegu in South Korea and the 2013 event in Moscow.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
June 2010:London left to battle Beijing for 2015 World Athletics Championships
March 2010: London and Beijing Olympic Stadiums both bid for 2015 World Championships