The African Athletics Confederation (CAA) has announced new changes to the program of activities of the African Athletics Development Centers (AADC) challenged by the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath. Thus, the training component will be provided online by the experts, starting in July.

AADC Dakar has programmed six (6) activities intended for coaches for the preparation of the Youth Olympic Games (experts Dramane Coulibaly and Anthony Koffi), the fight against doping (Dr Mohamed Diop), the lives of female athletes in Covid 19 period (Fatima El Faquir), management of French and Portuguese speaking federations (Jee Isram and Sharifa) and CECS 2 SAUTS (Ralph Mouchbahini).

AADC Cairo has planned nine (9) seminars around the planning of the Tokyo Games for Jumping, CECS 1 and CECS 2 (Ralph Mouchbahini), CECS 2 (Dr Wolfgang Ritzdorf and Gunter Lange), Psychological Effects of Covid 19 (Pr Wael Refaee), Management of competitions during Covid 19 (Hamou Tijani), Physiotherapists women (Lutz Meissner), Training camp for young jumpers), and Road races.

AADC Nairobi has six (6) programs for secretaries general of federations, TOECS 2 (Chris Cohen and Gungaram), Heptathlon training camp (Maria Whopil and Beatrice Ayikoru), fight against doping (Stephane Bermon ) etc…

The training centers of Mauritius, Port Harcourt, Lomé, Lusaka and Dakar operate according to local realities.

Professional athletes who are experiencing financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic will be able to register for a one-off welfare grant from today until May 31.

Two weeks ago World Athletics and the International Athletics Foundation (IAF) announced that a US$ 500,000 welfare fund had been created to support professional athletes who have lost a substantial part of their income due to the suspension of international competition this year.

A working group was formed to oversee the distribution of the funds and it has now finalised the eligibility criteria and application process.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who chairs the working group, said it had been a challenging and complicated task to define the eligibility criteria to ensure that grants from the fund were delivered to the athletes most in need.

“The IAF has allocated a substantial sum to the fund, and we hope to raise more through private donations from friends of our sport, but it has become apparent that the resources must be focused on athletes who are likely to be competing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year and are now struggling to pay for basic necessities due to loss of income during the pandemic,’’ Coe said.

“We know this is a stressful situation for many athletes and we are trying to provide meaningful assistance to as many as possible as quickly as possible so they can continue to train for the competition season we have now scheduled for August to October, and for next year’s Olympics.’’

World 1500m record-holder and Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj, who initiated this project and sits on the working group, said the loss of competition had had a huge impact on professional athletes because many relied on prize money to support themselves and their families.

The Fund will support athletes who have met the Tokyo Olympic Games entry standard and will provide welfare grants to be used to cover basic living expenses. The level of grant will be dependent on the number of approved applications and up to a maximum of US$4000. It is anticipated that the grants will be distributed directly to athletes from June.

Only athletes who have been impacted financially to the extent that they are unable to maintain their basic standard of living should apply. All applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

Must be qualified (by meeting the entry standard) for selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Must have never had an anti-doping rule violation

Must be able to demonstrate a justifiable welfare need through significant loss of income in 2020 compared to 2019.

To help ensure the fund goes to those most in need, please note the following athletes will not be eligible to apply:

Those ranked in the Top 6 in their event in the World Athletics World Rankings

Those who have finished in the Top 6 positions of any Gold Label Road Race in 2019

Those who have earned more than USD 6,000 in prize money from the Diamond League in 2019

Athletes who, throughout the covid-19 pandemic, continue to receive an annual grant from their Government, National Olympic Committee, Member Federation or sponsors are not expected to apply unless they can demonstrate a justifiable welfare need as detailed above.

Athletes can register for consideration here.

To ask questions regarding eligibility, or to make a case for exceptional circumstances (such as injury in 2019 impacting on eligibility), athletes should contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The first phase of the application process is for the IAF to assess eligibility and for athletes to describe the need for grant support and their proposed use of the grant. More detailed financial information will be requested in the second phase prior to confirmation of any grant award.  

World Athletics

The President of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), Hamad Kalkaba Malboum was the guest of the Media Committee for the Promotion of Athletics in West Africa (COMPAAO) on Friday May 8, 2020. During 120 minutes of interview, the boss of African athletics not only commented on the topic “CAA facing the COVID-19 pandemic” but also said his mind on many other subjects related to African athletics.

"It is obvious that we are at half mast, we are practically no longer active and we must naturally comply with the measures which the government of the various countries affiliated to CAA have taken to face this COVID-19 pandemic. […] We are no longer able to organize competitions, neither globally, nor in Africa. This is a difficult time for African athletics, "said the CAA president about the impact of the pandemic on his institution.

Have the federations had the financial support of the CAA to face the pandemic? In answering this question, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum affirms that the usual conditions for federations to receive the grant are still there. In addition, there is a partnership with a Spanish company which set up a program according to the African calendar to allow the CAA to have resources coming from marketing. But as no competition is organized, this program is nullified. As a result, the Confederation of African Athletics no longer has additional resources besides the expected grant from World Athletics.

Regarding the measures taken by the confederation of African Athletics to support the athletes until the next African championships, the president explains: "on a purely African level we have no resources to support these athletes. But what we asked them is to respect the instructions dictated by their various countries in order to be safe from the disease. "

Regarding the competitions postponed due to the coronavirus, the CAA president recalls that the countries initially selected to host the said competitions keep the organization. Thus, Lomé (Togo) keeps the organization of the African Cross-country Championship which will now take place in March 2021. For its part, Algiers (Algeria) keeps the organization of the Africa senior Championships which will enter the qualification circuit for the Olympic Games, all the more that the qualification deadline for the Olympic Games is June 29, 2021. "As a result, the African athletics championships will probably take place one month before the Olympic Games in order to allow those who are still aiming for the qualification to do so ” the president explained.

In his answers, he also addressed the issue of training journalists who are interested in athletics. The president intends to encourage training projects for journalists through associations including COMPAAO.

Lazare HOMEKAN

Hello dear colleagues and enthusiasts of athletics. Just to let you know that the President of the African Athletics Confederation (CAA), Hamad Kalkaba Malboum is the first guest on the WhatsApp platform of the Media Committee for the Promotion of Athletics in West Africa (COMPAAO). It will be this Friday, May 8, 2020 from 10:30 UT. The theme of the meeting is "AAC facing the Covid-19 pandemic" The moderator is named Fernand Dedeh, Ivorian journalist-blogger. You can already prepare your questionnaires and send them to the moderator whose number is +22505600366 in the whatsApp group of COMPAAO. On the day of the interview you can also ask questions live

We opted for the audio response mode

World Athletics, together with the International Athletics Foundation (IAF), has today launched a US$500,000 fund to support professional athletes experiencing financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, who also chairs the IAF, said the fund would be used to assist athletes who have lost most of their income in the last few months due to the suspension of international competition while the world combats the global health emergency.

Established in 1986 to support charitable causes involving athletics, the International Athletics Foundation, under the Honorary Presidency of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, has allocated resources from its budgets for 2020 and 2021 to assist athletes in need through this process.

Coe will chair an expert multi-regional working group to assess the applications for assistance, which will be submitted through World Athletics’ six Area Associations.

The members will include: Olympic champion and 1500m world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj, Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi (representing the WA Athletes’ Commission), WA Executive Board members Sunil Sabharwal (Audit Committee) and Abby Hoffman, WA Council members Adille Sumariwalla, Beatrice Ayikoru and Willie Banks, IAF Executive Committee member and former WA treasurer Jose Maria Odriozola and Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines President Keith Joseph.

The working group will meet this week to establish a process for awarding and distributing grants to individual athletes and to look at other ways to raise additional monies for the fund.

Coe said it was important that the sport supported its athletes most in need during the current circumstances.

“I would especially like to thank Hicham for bringing this idea to us, and Prince Albert for his strong support of this project. I am in constant contact with athletes around the world and I know that many are experiencing financial hardship as a consequence of the shutdown of most international sports competition in the last two months. Our professional athletes rely on prize money as part of their income and we’re mindful that our competition season, on both the track and road, is being severely impacted by the pandemic. We are hopeful that we will be able to stage at least some competition later this year, but in the meantime we will also endeavour, through this fund and additional monies we intend to seek through the friends of our sport, to help as many athletes as possible."

HSH Prince Albert II added: "I created more than 35 years ago the International Athletics Foundation with the late Primo Nebiolo to encourage and promote athletics and grant financial assistance to athletics federations and the most deserving athletes. Since its inception the Foundation has distributed for these purposes more than US$30 Million. I am delighted that we can put our resources behind this initiative so we can make a difference to the lives of athletes who are suffering financially at this time. We hope that this support will help those athletes preparing for international competition, including next year’s Olympic Games, to sustain their training, support their families and that this will relieve them of some stress in these uncertain times.’’

El Guerrouj said: “The pandemic is causing economic pain to people from all parts of society, including athletes, and this is a time when we must come together as a global community to help each other. I am delighted that Seb and World Athletics reacted so positively to my suggestion that we create a fund for athletes, and have made it happen with the support of the International Athletics Foundation. The suspension of competition has had a huge impact on many professional athletes because they can’t earn prize money so I’m really pleased that we have found a way to assist them.”

World Athletics has launched Athletics@Home, a new series designed to help people of all ages to stay fit, active and engaged during this period of unprecedented lockdown around the world.

The content, which will appear on both the World Athletics website and across its social media channels, is divided into four themes: Kids, Active, Rewind and Unwind.

Given the global health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Hamad Kalkaba MALBOUM, President of the Confederation of African Athletics, in consultation with the CAA Executive Board members, decided to postpone until May / June 2021 the 22^nd edition of the Africa senior championships which were scheduled in Algiers from June 24 to 28, 2020.

Attention to

-          Presidents and CEOs of National Federations

-          Council Members,

-          AADC Directors

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Given the current situation with the rapid spread of the COVID-19, the State of Senegal has taken the following measures since yesterday as part of the fight against this pandemic.

Twenty (20) International Technical Officials (ITOs), nationals of English-speaking and French-speaking African countries participated from March 2 to 5, 2020 in a seminar in Dakar on the "strategies for the organization of an athletics competition".