Еуропалық жеңіл атлетика қауымдастығының тарихы

European athletics governing body

The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 members and is headquartered in Lausanne. Originally created in 1932 as a European Committee, it was made into an independent body during the Bucharest conference of 1969. The first European Athletics congress took place in Paris on 6–8 October 1970, with Dutchman Adriaan Paulen elected as its first president. From a volunteer led organization based in the acting Secretary's home country, European Athletics has developed into a professional organization with a permanent base in Switzerland. European Athletics runs and regulates several championships and meetings across Europe – both indoor and outdoor.

After the foundation of the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) in 1912, it was clear there needed to be a European committee as part of the governing board. While the idea originally met with some resistance, it was the active promotion by the Hungarian representative Szilard Stankovits that bought the initiative to life following the Los Angeles congress of the IAAF in 1932. Following this meeting, the Council officially designated a European Commission (chaired by Stankovits) with the task of reviewing the conditions for the organisation of the European Athletics Championships. The first official meeting of what was later to be known as the European Commission was held in Budapest on 7 January 1934. The organization of the first European Athletics Championships was officially awarded to Turin. These first games were men only and were notable by the absence of the British delegation, which opposed an event seen as competing with its own British Empire Games. to US$40,000 per year in 1970. It was also during that period that the Commission started experimenting and developing a greater range of events besides the European Championships: the European Junior Championships (1964), the European Cup (1965), the Indoor championships (1966). The Commission officially became a Committee in July 1952, gradually expanding its independence. The members of the Commission were elected at regular IAAF Congresses until 1966 when, for the first time, their selection became European only. The shift also reflects the increased income received from television rights, as earnings took off as a direct result of broadcasting arrangements. The 1969 European championships secured a record US$90,000 from Eurovision for the rights to broadcast the event. It was then decided that the European Committee would directly receive these funds in order to benefit its members (rather than having it redistributed by the IAAF.) The European Championships of 1974 included a wider range of banned products than previously, with anabolic steroids being checked at all other subsequent events. As such, the European Association became an experimental platform for international athletics, organising events before they were recognized by the International Olympic Committee. For example, the women's marathon was included in the 1982 championships and became an Olympic distance for female athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics. The late 1980s saw major new challenges for sports in general, and European athletics in particular, with the increased professionalization of athletes and the breakdown of the Eastern Bloc. There was a huge increase in member federations (34 to 49 between 1987 and 1991) and the growing complexity of financial and commercial negotiations as well as an ever expanding calendar of events meant that the organisation had to adapt. Till Luft, from Germany, became the first full time General Secretary in 1995 and worked at the first European Athletics office in Frankfurt and, after April 1996, Darmstadt. A second office was also opened in London, next to the IAAF. A few years later, because of the somewhat unfavourable nature of the German tax system towards non profit organizations, the proposal was made to merge both offices and move out of Germany. Each member gets one vote at the Congress. Since 2005, the European Athletic Association also has its own anthem, composed by the Armenian composer Gevorg Manasyan, which is used at the opening and closing of official events.

Any indoor or outdoor meeting within Europe, which invites international athletes and offers a prize money, appearance fee, and/or the value of non cash prizes in excess of a certain amount is required to have a permit from European Athletic. The distinction between Premium, Classic and Special Premium meetings lies essentially in the number of mandatory events, level of attendance, stadium capacity, as well as commercial conditions and the number of doping controls. Classic Meeting requirements are less stringent than Premium, whereas Special Premium Meetings have a restricted programme of events (and therefore a reduced number of participating athletes).