Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting

Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...

and Meeting

Gaz de France Gaz de France (GDF) was a French company which produced, transported and sold natural gas around the world, especially in France, its main market. The company was also particularly active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other Europea ...

) is an annual

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 eve ...

meeting at the

Stade Sébastien Charléty Stade Sébastien-Charléty (; ), also known as Stade Charléty or Charléty, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. Comprising a running track and a football field, the stadium is a 20,000-seat sta ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Previously one of 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, ...

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 ...

. It was first organized in 1999. The record attendance was set on 1 July 2005, with a total of 70,253 spectators.

History

The origins of the meet date back to 1984 when Michel Zilbermann organised an athletics meeting at the

Stade Auguste Delaune The Stade Auguste-Delaune is a multi-use stadium in Reims, France. It is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of Stade Reims. The stadium was one of the venues for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's W ...

. Another meeting in Paris was held annually in the

. The two meets collaborated to create a new event in the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foo ...

in 1999. Following this, the two meetings officially merged to become one meet in 2000. The meeting's founder Zilbermann died in April 2008 following a long illness.Founder of Saint-Denis meeting passes away

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 fo ...

(2009-04-28). Retrieved on 2009-04-28. The 2009 event was marred by heavy rain but

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

, Kerron Stewart, Sanya Richards and

Yelena Isinbayeva Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva ( rus, Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə gɐˈdʐɨjɪvnə ɪsʲɪnˈbajɪvə; born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 20 ...

all remained on target for the 2009 Golden League jackpot. A particular highlight was

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

's 9.79 seconds run for the 100 m meet record, which was closely followed by a national-record-breaking Daniel Bailey. There were 46,500 people in attendance to see new French record holder

Renaud Lavillenie Renaud Lavillenie ( or ; born 18 September 1986) is a French pole vaulter. Lavillenie won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London and the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In addition to his Olympic success, he has won three Wor ...

win the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the M ...

competition. The 2013 event was headlined by Usain Bolt setting a World Leading time in the 200m in front of 50,226 fans. In 2017, the meeting moved back to

. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Editions

Meeting records

Men

Women

References

External links

Diamond League – Paris Official Web Site
{{World Athletics Tour Diamond League IAAF Golden League Recurring sporting events established in 2000 Athletics competitions in France M Annual track and field meetings IAAF Grand Prix IAAF World Outdoor Meetings Athletics in Paris