The 35th edition of the European Athletics Indoor Championships that begin in Glasgow’s Emirates Arena tomorrow will reach historic levels of television coverage.
Speaking at the pre-event press conference in Glasgow’s City Chambers, European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen announced that broadcasting plans for the Championships provided by the European Broadcasting Union currently involve 418 hours of live and/or delayed coverage throughout the world.
By comparison, Gothenburg 2013 accrued 271 hours with Prague 2015 and Belgrade 2017 receiving 283 and 252 hours respectively.
“This makes this European Athletics Indoor Championship the most successful in recent history in terms of TV coverage,” Hansen concluded.
Reflecting on the previous occasion when Glasgow hosted these Championships, at the Kelvin Hall Arena in 1990, Hansen said: “We are delighted to be back here. In 1990 we had 28 Member Federations represented in Glasgow, and 370 athletes.
'It is a measure of how our sport has grown in the last three decades, even considering the changes in the political landscape in that time, that European Athletics has 49 countries taking part in this year’s championships, and 637 athletes competing.”
This makes Glasgow 2019 the largest European Athletics Indoor Championships, beating Prague in 2015 when 629 athletes from 49 nations took part at the 02 Arena.
“I am very proud to say that we are going to have a lot of our big stars here for these Championships,” Hansen added.
“Out of the 26 gold medal winners from Belgrade in 2017, 20 will be returning to defend their titles, including home favourite Laura Muir in the 1500 and 3000 metres. I look forward to hearing that famous ‘Emirates roar’ in the next few days.
Emphasising the importance of home stars and what they can bring to a championships, Hansen said: “I organised the Bislett Games in Oslo for 30 years, and I know the stars are very important to the success of a meeting, but most important are the home stars.
“Two years ago I was lucky enough to be able to give Ivana Spanovic the gold medal in Belgrade after she won the long jump. There were 9000 people waiting 45 minutes after the last event so they could see the medal ceremony. That is what home stars can do for an event.”
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Joe FitzPatrick, Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing in the Scottish Parliament, commented: “The European Athletics Indoor Championships have a great tradition. I would like to highlight Tom McKean, who won the 800m the last time the event was held in this city.
“We look forward to welcoming more than 600 athletes to the Emirates Arena. I am especially proud to see a record nine Scottish athletes selected to compete here.
“This is the second major sporting competition to be held in Scotland in last 12 months following the European Championships events that were held in this city and across the country last summer.
“This year we will be looking forward to hosting the Solheim Cup in Gleneagles, and the European Short Course Swimming Championships. Next year we will share hosting of the Euro 2020 Football Championships.
“But for now we can look forward to three days of top class action in what I am sure will be one of the noisiest sporting venues in Europe.”
Councillor David McDonald, Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council, welcomed all connected with the Championships.
“We look forward to seeing some fantastic competition over the next three days,” he said. “I was only six when these championships were last in Glasgow, but my dad was in the Kelvin Hall and he saw Linford Christie win the 60 metres for Britain.
“Glasgow is a city that is passionate about sports. That’s why we invest so much in it. A recent survey showed that our city is rated the fifth best in the world for sport, out of 4000 cities. And our research shows evidence that by hosting major events we can increase participation in sport. I hope that young people will be inspired by the athletics they see here.”