The Golden Four was an annual series of outdoor

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

meetings in Europe, which lasted from 1993 to 1997. The four meetings that comprised the series were the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bislet ...

(Oslo),

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...

(Zürich),

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond L ...

(Brussels) and

Internationales Stadionfest The Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) is an annual track and field athletics meeting at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. It was first held in July 1921 at the Deutsches Stadion, which was replaced from 1937 by the Stadium of the 1936 Ol ...

(Berlin). The name of the series derived from the number of meets and the series prize of 20 kg of gold, to be shared among the athletes who won their event at all four of the meets. The Berlin leg served as the series final. Marketing for the series was managed by

UFA GmbH UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...

. The series was a precursor to the

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...

, which was created in 1998 as an extension of the previous series, adding the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual track and field event normally held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend Pie ...

(Rome),

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world reco ...

(Monaco) and

1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final The 1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the fourteenth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 5 September at the Luzhn ...

(Moscow) to the existing four meetings. The Golden League was later superseded by the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

, the premier seasonal competition for track and field. The series itself had a precursor in the

IAAF Golden Events The IAAF Golden Events were a sporadic series of twelve athletics events organised by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) from 1978 to 1982. Aside from the inaugural event in Tokyo, the contests were held in Europe and were attach ...

, which was an effort in the late 1970s and 1980s to encourage the top professional athletes to compete against each other in non-championship settings. Zürich, Oslo and Brussels each hosted a Golden Event in 1978.Athletics: 'Golden Four' raising the stakes: Jaackson and Powell share jackpot as organisers in London and Lausanne press to join the elite stakes
''The Independent'' (1994-09-01). Retrieved on 2015-02-26.

Jackpot winners

References

{{defunct athletics competitions Defunct athletics competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1993 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1997 Annual athletics series