Every athlete that wins a medal at the World Para Athletics Championships London 2017 will be provided with an additional medal to gift to their coach, it has been confirmed today, with a week to go until the first night of the Championships.
In a milestone first for the World Para Athletics Championships, organisers, in coordination with World Para Athletics have confirmed that coaches of medal winning athletes will also receive medals in recognition of their unique and valued relationship.
The coaches medals, which are based upon similar themes to the athlete medals but differ in design, will be provided to successful athletes following their ceremony, where they will then be able to gift to their coach or significant advisor.
The athlete medals for the World Para Athletics Championships were revealed back in May and are inspired by the notion of ‘What makes an athlete tick?’. The possibility of creating a coaching medal was investigated by UK Athletics who form the LOC for the World Para Athletics Championships.
Paul Macgregor, coach to Paralympic T37 100m and 400m champion Georgina Hermitage, said: “As a coach your focus is on getting your athlete in the best place possible to be able to win medals at major championships. That moment on the podium is rightly theirs but it certainly is nice for athletes to have the opportunity to reward someone who has helped them get to that point. It is not something that has been put forward before and so it is going to be another thing that makes the World Para Athletics Championships London 2017 so memorable.”
Sir Philip Craven, IPC President, said: “I think London 2017 deserve great credit for introducing coaches medals for the first time to the World Para Athletics Championships. Coaches are the unsung heroes behind the scenes and it is fantastic that they will be rewarded for their efforts in coaching medal winning athletes.”
Niels de Vos, Championship Director, said: “As organisers it was important that we made provision for coaches medals for the World Para Athletics Championships. Our #FillTheStadium campaign is encouraging as many supporters to attend and this is another milestone moment for the event and something we are proud to announce with exactly one week to go to the Championships. Athletes deserve their time on the podium but coaches play such a vital role in getting them to that point, so we are pleased to be able to support the athlete to share that success.”
The World Para Athletics Championships London 2017, and the IAAF World Championships London 2017, are together the biggest sporting event in the world in 2017. The biggest event to be staged at the London Stadium since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – it is the first time both Championships have been held in the same city with over 3,000 athletes from over 200 nations competing over 20 days of action.
