CHAMPIONSHIPS MEDALS REVEALED, AS MUSEUM OF WORLD ATHLETICS EXHIBITION OFFICIALLY OPENED BY TRIO OF SCOTTISH ATHLETICS LEGENDS
With just four weeks to go until the first World Athletics Indoor Champion Glasgow 24 is crowned, official event Ambassador Eilidh Doyle meets with budding young athletes from local clubs to give them a sneak peek of the Championships medals.
Event organisers launched an open call last summer, giving Scottish artists the chance to submit their designs in a bid to become a part of history. The winning artist will be there to see their illustrations transformed into a stunning creation that will be presented to the winners of the 26 events.
2 February will also see the official opening of the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) Exhibition that is being staged at the St Enoch Centre from now until the end of the Championships, designed to encourage everyone to feel a part of the event and find out more about the number one Olympic sport and how they can get involved.
MOWA guests of honour, Scottish 1980 Olympic 100m champion Allan Wells, and 1993 World Athletics Indoor champions Yvonne Murray-Mooney (3000m) and Tom McKean (800m) will also join the proceedings.
The one-month long MOWA exhibition features World Athletics Heritage’s collection of indoor athletics competition artefacts dating from the 1880s. The displays contain clothing, shoes, equipment, trophies, and medals donated by more than 30 world champions and/or record breakers.
Bringing a Scottish twist and joining MOWA at St Enoch on the first floor will be Commonwealth Games Scotland staging the Team Scotland Exhibition celebrating 10 years on since the incredible success the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 will be amongst the biggest sports events to be held in Scotland this year, attracting more than 700 athletes from over 130 countries, as athletes start the season’s build up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships is held every two years and provides three action-packed days of intense competition in an intimate arena where fans can witness the raw athleticism and talent of many of the world’s best athletes at close range.
With just four weeks to go until the first World Athletics Indoor Champion Glasgow 24 is crowned, official event Ambassador Eilidh Doyle meets with budding young athletes from local clubs to give them a sneak peek of the Championships medals.
Event organisers launched an open call last summer, giving Scottish artists the chance to submit their designs in a bid to become a part of history. The winning artist will be there to see their illustrations transformed into a stunning creation that will be presented to the winners of the 26 events.
2 February will also see the official opening of the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) Exhibition that is being staged at the St Enoch Centre from now until the end of the Championships, designed to encourage everyone to feel a part of the event and find out more about the number one Olympic sport and how they can get involved.
MOWA guests of honour, Scottish 1980 Olympic 100m champion Allan Wells, and 1993 World Athletics Indoor champions Yvonne Murray-Mooney (3000m) and Tom McKean (800m) will also join the proceedings.
The one-month long MOWA exhibition features World Athletics Heritage’s collection of indoor athletics competition artefacts dating from the 1880s. The displays contain clothing, shoes, equipment, trophies, and medals donated by more than 30 world champions and/or record breakers.
Bringing a Scottish twist and joining MOWA at St Enoch on the first floor will be Commonwealth Games Scotland staging the Team Scotland Exhibition celebrating 10 years on since the incredible success the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 will be amongst the biggest sports events to be held in Scotland this year, attracting more than 700 athletes from over 130 countries, as athletes start the season’s build up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships is held every two years and provides three action-packed days of intense competition in an intimate arena where fans can witness the raw athleticism and talent of many of the world’s best athletes at close range.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 I'm Chris Turner and I'm the Director of the World Athletics Heritage Programme in the Department of Heritage
00:12 and also the Curator of the Museum of World Athletics.
00:15 We're here in the St Enoch's Shopping Centre in the centre of the city.
00:19 The reason we're here is in a month's time we'll have the World Indoor Athletics Championships in the Emirates Stadium
00:25 and we're here to celebrate 170 years of international indoor competition.
00:31 Obviously because we're in Scotland we've got quite a good Scottish feel,
00:35 not just in terms of the branding but some of the great athletes.
00:38 What we have here, even though it's an indoor exhibition, we've brought with us some great artefacts,
00:45 one of which Liz McColgan's spikes which she ran the 10,000 metres and won in Tokyo,
00:50 and even more recently we have Jake Whiteman's spikes from Eugene in 2022 when he became 1500 metres world champion.
00:57 That's just a snippet of what we've got in terms of Scotland.
01:00 In terms of indoor athletes specifically, because obviously that's what we're celebrating,
01:05 we have things from Jesse Owens right through to Mondo Deplantis.
01:10 We have things from Valerie Adams all the way through to, in a few minutes' time,
01:15 we'll have Yvonne Murray will be donating to the collection.
01:18 So it's a very varied collection for all the events, run, jump, throw and even walk.
01:23 Walking used to be part of indoor athletics and we have some artefacts from race walking in here as well.
01:28 Amazingly, we do these exhibitions all around the world.
01:32 Our contractor who's built this exhibition turned to me on day one and said,
01:36 "You know I've got a famous athlete in my family's history."
01:39 "Really?" "Yeah, a Scottish cross-country champion."
01:42 He said, "I found in my aunt's attic a box of things from him, including his medals from the 1913 cross-country title."
01:51 He became cross-country champion there.
01:53 There's a lovely letter. He then goes to Paris and has an international match against the French.
01:59 Scottish team member for cross-country in 1913.
02:03 Guess where he departed for Paris from?
02:06 From this very spot where the train station used to be.
02:11 What we have on the wall here is the citation from a Scottish cross-country union, his medals.
02:18 But then quite poignantly, two years later, the citation from the World War I of his death.
02:25 And the medal and the medallion and the king and country paying tribute for the loss.
02:30 So some really extraordinary stories.
02:33 One of which, as I said, until I walked in here, I didn't even know we'd have on display.
02:37 The Museum of World Athletics' indoor athletics collection.
02:41 We have our exhibition here in the centre of town.
02:43 We begin on Saturday 3rd February and it's open from 11am to 6pm every day.
02:50 And closes at the end of the World Indoor Championships on Sunday 3rd March.
02:54 It's free to enter and everybody is very much welcome.
02:57 What we try and do is put athletics into context.
03:00 So you can come here and see the actual height of the pole vault world records.
03:05 With the photograph at size of Mondo de Plantes setting the world record.
03:11 Same with the high jumps.
03:12 We're trying to make sure people understand the extraordinary athleticism of these people.
03:17 Ailey Doyle, Ambassador for the World Indoor Athletics Championships.
03:21 This is sort of kick-starting the build-up to the World Indoor Athletics Championships.
03:25 Which are happening from the 1st to the 3rd of March.
03:27 And this is the sort of, get the champs out there.
03:31 Be part of the city.
03:32 We want the champs to not just be those three days at the Emirates.
03:35 We want it to be out in the city and for people to get involved in it.
03:38 This is basically showcasing various memorabilia history from World Indoor and World Outdoor Championships from all over the year.
03:46 So yeah, a really interesting display of spikes, vests, strips for the public to see.
03:52 Without being biased, I think our home Scottish athletes are ones to look out for.
03:56 Laura Muir has indicated that she's targeting the 3,000 metres there.
03:59 She's got obviously a great history of indoor.
04:02 She's got umpteen gold medals from the European Indoors.
04:05 And she's got a bronze and a silver from World Indoors back in 2018.
04:09 So a phenomenal indoor runner.
04:10 And she's obviously targeting this, so definitely one to watch.
04:13 But as well as Laura, you've got Gemma Rieke who's in the women's 800 metres.
04:17 She had a really good year last year.
04:19 Has been coming back from quite a bad illness and injury.
04:21 So again, she'll be one to look out for.
04:23 And I think Neil Gourley in the men's 500 metres as well.
04:26 We've got such a great history of men's 500 metre runners
04:29 that I think the 1500 metres men is going to be a really good one to watch too.
04:33 Well, there's been rumour that Noah Lyles is potentially wanting to come along to this.
04:37 So he would obviously be a fantastic athlete to see.
04:40 I think for those that have got tickets, to see the men's sprint live in action.
04:44 To see how fast these guys actually run is incredible.
04:48 Mondo Diplantis in the men's pole vault has indicated he wants to do it as well.
04:51 And again, being able to see him live and the heights that he can jump in the pole vault
04:56 would just be incredible to see.
04:58 So yeah, a couple of big names there if they're going to be over here for that.
05:01 Hi, my name's Yvonne Murray-Mooney, MBE.
05:04 And I won my World Indoor Gold Medal 31 years ago.
05:08 It was an amazing feeling because in 1991 and 1992 I didn't run particularly well.
05:15 So going into the World Indoors, it was a last minute decision to take part.
05:19 But when I got there and then I was so far in front and I was laughing at athletes,
05:24 it gave me a great boost for the outdoor season.
05:27 I'm actually handing in the running spikes that I wore when I won the World Indoor Gold Medals.
05:33 It's such an honour to be able to do this and know that other people will get to see my spikes
05:39 and maybe remember.
05:41 This is the first museum 3D that's ever been done.
05:45 That's what's great about the next generation who are all computer-minded.
05:50 This is going to have a 3D audience and hopefully they'll see some of the memorabilia
05:57 that you don't normally get to see.
05:59 Because a lot of people just keep their tracksuits or their spikes
06:02 and they don't share it with everybody else.
06:04 But this is an opportunity to do that.
06:07 Look at Eric Liddell.
06:09 Watching Charity Sapphire was what inspired me to take up the sport.
06:13 It's incredible.
06:15 Sometimes when you watch athletes now and somebody's shouting 'Tracksuits off' and 'On your marks',
06:23 you remember that emotion that you felt at that moment.
06:26 So I'm watching Laura Beir and I know exactly how she's feeling
06:29 until the gun goes and then it all takes over.
06:33 My name's Neil Gray.
06:34 I'm the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for the Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy.
06:38 It's incredibly important and special that Glasgow is getting to host the World Indoor Athletics Championships
06:44 for the first time in Scotland.
06:46 And to build upon the incredible legacy that Glasgow is now building of hosting major events
06:52 the Commonwealth Games, the World Badminton, Gymnastics Championships
06:56 and of course the World Cycling Championships last year.
06:59 Glasgow is generating an incredible reputation as our major events host
07:03 and I hope that the World Athletics Championships will continue in that incredible legacy
07:09 of producing and building upon major sporting events.
07:13 [Music]
07:19 [MUSIC]