Single entry standards for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games have been approved by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) at the world governing body’s Council meeting in Beijing.
Standards for 2016 World Indoor Championships were also released and next year’s Diamond League calendar approved.
The Olympic standards follow the pattern established by the IAAF for their 2015 World Championships in Beijing, in that single entry standards for each gender have been announced rather than A and B standards.
The Olympic standards are marginally higher in a number of cases.
For instance, World Championships marks for the Women’s 100m of 11.33sec, Men’s 400m 45.50, Men’s 800m 1:46.00sec, Men’s 1500m 3:36.20, Men’s High Jump 2.28 metres and Men’s Pole Vault 5.65 increase respectively at the Olympics to 11.32, 45.40, 1:45.80, 3:36.00, 2.29m and 5.70m.
This new unified qualification system was announced at the IAAF Council meeting in Monaco in November.
It is likely to improve the overall quality of the event, but may result in some countries struggling to field a wide range of competitors.
The old system allowed countries whose athletes failed to fill any of their three allotted places through gaining a higher mark to select a single athlete on the strength of a B qualifying standard.
According to the IAAF, the unified entry standards - broadly speaking, a little below old A category but above B category - will combine with invitations which will effectively tighten up overall qualification standards, allowing them to standardize entries, which will in turn help organizers to anticipate the required provision of facilities such as hotel rooms and transport.
Athletics action at Rio 2016 is due to take place from Friday August 12th to Sunday August 21st.
The timetable and entry standards for the IAAF World Indoor Championships to be held in Portland, United States, from March 18th until 20, 2016, have also been decided.
The 2016 IAAF Diamond League calendar was also approved, opening with the Doha meeting on May 7th and ending with the finals in Zurich and Brussels on September 2nd and 10th respectively.
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