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
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 ...
. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend
Pietro Mennea
Pietro Paolo Mennea (; 28 June 1952 – 21 March 2013), nicknamed ("the Arrow of the South"), was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200m event, winning a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and set a world ...
, the organizers added his name to the title of the meet.
The 2021 event was temporarily relocated to
Florence.
History
Primo Nebiolo, the Italian president of
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
since 1981, was the founder of the Golden Gala and had the idea to bring the athletes and the people from the
United States and the
NATO countries together that were boycotting the
Moscow Olympics in 1980 as a result of the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. Nebiolo died of a heart attack at age 76 in 1999.
At the 2009 edition of the Golden Gala,
Kenenisa Bekele,
Kerron Stewart,
Sanya Richards and
Yelena Isinbayeva all remained on target for the
2009 Golden League jackpot.
[Powell, David (2009-07-10)]
Bekele – ‘I’m dreaming about this jackpot’ – ÅF Golden League
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
. Retrieved on 2009-07-23. In the 100 m,
Tyson Gay equalled his American record and
Daniel Bailey set an
Antigua
Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
n record in the men's race.
brought the sole Italian victory in Rome by beating off favourite
Blanka Vlašić in the high jump.
[
]
World records
Over the course of its history, eight world records have been set at the Gala. The 1500 metres and Mile records by Hicham El Guerrouj still stand. In 2014 Joanne Pavey's 15:04.87 in the 5000 metres
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...
bettered the existing masters world record in the W40 division by almost 16 seconds.
Meet records
Men
Women
See also
*Notturna di Milano
Notturna di Milano ( en, Night in Milan) is an annual track and field meeting which is held in September at the Arena Civica in Milan, Italy. First held in 1998, the meeting received IAAF permit meeting status the following year. In its earlier ye ...
* Rieti meeting
References
External links
Diamond League – Rome Official Web SiteGolden Gala Meeting Records
{{Diamond League navbox
Diamond League
Sports competitions in Rome
IAAF Golden League
G
Athletics competitions in Italy
Summer events in Italy
Athletics in Rome
IAAF World Outdoor Meetings
Golden Gala