World Athletics Champs 2017 Md Named
UK Athletics has announced the appointment of Sally Bolton as managing director of the Organising Committee for the London double header of World Athletics Championships in 2017.
Bolton takes up the new position after working for the RFL as director of projects and planning, and also played a crucial role in the delivery of the most successful Rugby League World Cup ever as general manager.
RFL chief executive Nigel Wood said: ‘On behalf of the whole sport I would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sally for her important contribution over the last seven years.’
‘The excellence of our events, including RLWC2013, has reinforced Rugby League’s standing as a world class sport and Sally has been a key figure in that.’
‘It was inevitable that following the World Cup, an events professional with Sally’s proven track record would be in demand from other sports and we understand and support the reasons for her decision to take up this new challenge.’
The Olympic Stadium will host both the IAAF World Championships and the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships back-to-back as the two World Championships are staged in the same city for the first time ever.
The Organising Committee is delivering the two Championships on behalf of UK Athletics, the Greater London Authority and UK Sport, supported by Department for Culture Media and Sport, after both were awarded to London in 2011.
Chief executive Niels de Vos commented: ‘We are delighted to have recruited a leader of Sally’s calibre. She was the outstanding candidate for a role which attracted global interest. She has precisely the hands-on delivery experience we are after, and has the accolades to prove it from her successful leadership of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.’
Bolton added: ‘This is one of the biggest sports event challenges anywhere in the world, with responsibility for staging two World Championships back to back on the same scale to athletics in the Olympics and Paralympics. To have been offered the chance to lead the delivery in London, in the Olympic Stadium, following the massive success of athletics in 2012, is a huge challenge and an even bigger inspiration.’
