Renaud Lavillenie is one of a host of French athletes inspiring more and more youngsters to take part in the sport.

Saturday March 6, 2010, is a date that will be inscribed as a memorable moment in French athletics history. It was on this day that the name of the 200,000th registered athlete in France was entered into the federation's database.

The person concerned was actually 12-year-old Victor Humbert from the Alsace region.

"This confirms the good health of the FFA and its clubs. It is the fruit of the work that began five years ago and extends into many areas: the approach to youth athletics, media visibility, the opening of athletics tracks and many other things," said Bernard Amsalem, President of the Fédération Française d'Athlétisme (FFA).

"Taking a step back, we can see that the strength of the Federation has been increasing steadily for the past five years with an increase of nearly 20 percent of registered athletes since 2005."

The news could not have come at a better time as France will play host to the 2011 European Indoor Athletics Championships, which will be held at the Palais Omnisport Paris-Bercy between 4-6 March next year.

"For a long time, the numbers registered in the younger age groups were declining but the trend began to reverse itself over a year ago. Last year, all categories, including the most sensitive, were increasing. This rise has continued this year," added Amsalem.

Amsalem also noted that the gap between the number of licensed men and women in France is slowly decreasing. The current figures show the proportions to be 58% men and 42% women, against 61% and 39% in 2005.

It is also a testament to the FFA and its strategies for developing the sport that they have managed to increase their licensed athletes in the face of competition not only from electronic leisure pursuits but also other sports.

"You can not put aside the opportunity to face the strong competition offered by other sports and the fact that interest in elite performance (across all sports) is declining.

"But athletics is a sport of diversity and we have widened the circle of people interested in our sport," reflected Amsalem.

At an elite level, France is also looking to make big strides forward and the FFA is sending 27 athletes to this coming weekend's World Indoor Championships in Doha.

After not winning a medal at the last two editions of the championships, France has as many as six realistic medals chances this time around, not least of which are Salim Sdiri and Renaud Lavillenie, who top the 2010 world men's Long Jump and Pole Vault rankings with 8.24m and 5.85m, respectively.