KOREA, IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 - August 26, 2011

The IAAF World Championships, where competitors from all over the world will achieve incredible athletic feats, will be held for 9 days from August 27 to September 4 2011, in Daegu.

The event was created by IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation), and the IAAF World Championships was first held in Helsinki, Finland in 1983. Since its 3rd competition, it has been held every other year — on odd number years. The slogan of this year’s 13th competition is “Sprint Together for Tomorrow.” At this year’s competition, a total of approximately 6,000 athletes and officials from 212 countries around the world are expected to participate and display the skills they have polished through grueling training in a total of 47 events such as the long jump, the high jump, the javelin throw, the shot put, race walking, and the marathon, as well as the iconic track events such as the 100m, 400m, 1500m and the hurdles.

Daegu, the host city for this competition, is the city of textile, fashion and apple, with dense forests and a clean river winding through the city. Also serving as the host city for the 2013 World Energy Congress, Daegu is being reborn as an environment and alternative energy city, after being recently designated as “solar city-Daegu” by the IEA (International Energy Agency).

In celebration of the 2011 IAAF World Championships, two stamps are issued, each stamp featuring the sprint and the pole vault as ink-and-wash painting utilizing croquis sketching. It is hoped that this year’s competition will be a great success where people, through track and field events – the elite of sports – will thrill to record-shattering competition among world renowned athletes and be imbued with a profound spirit and true sportsmanship.