History is a word synonymous with the Eternal City of Rome. The Coliseum, the Fountain di Trevi, the many other centuries-old attractions, make it one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. For athletics fans the sentiments are no different. Their well-trodden path to the Olympic Stadium has taken them to the site of some outstanding moments in track and field history.
The 1960 Olympics were held in Rome, as were the 1981 IAAF World Cup and the 1987 World Championships. And, for a regular feast of international athletics, the Golden Gala has been served up annually since 1980. From its first year, when athletes competed free from the restraints of the Moscow Olympic boycott, to the curtain falling on the Golden League in 2009, when Tyson Gay and Kerron Stewart ran like winged warriors, the meeting has been compelling viewing.
With 60,000 spectators present, the first edition wrote a teasing first chapter. Italy's very own Pietro Mennea won the 200m in the then exceptional time of 20.01 while compatriot Sara Simeoni took the women's High Jump with 1.98. Carl Lewis and Merlene Ottey were beaten over 100m but, new names then, soon they would become global superstars.
In 1983 the Golden Gala claimed its first World record, a 5.83m Pole Vault by Frenchman Thierry Vigneron. And it was this event which held the audience spellbound the following year, too, as Vigneron and the Soviet Union's Sergey Bubka fought an amazing duel. Vigneron jumped a World record of 5.91 but, only nine minutes later, Bubka responded with 5.94. Vigneron tried to better it again with 5.97 but was unsuccessful.
The Golden Gala embraced the Grand Prix final in 1985 and with it came a rematch of the most eventful women's middle distance race in Olympic history, held the year before in Los Angeles. Zola Budd had arrived in England on a passport of convenience from ostracised South Africa and her race against Mary Decker over 3000m was supposed to have been a contest for gold between the teenage prodigy and America's sweetheart.
But neither Budd nor Decker won a medal. They collided just after halfway, Decker falling and failing to finish, and Budd placing seventh, while Romania's Maricica Puica became Olympic champion. In Rome a year later Decker defeated Puica and Budd over 5000m to take the Grand Prix title. Two years down the line it was the men's 5000m that commanded centre stage as Morocco's Said Aouita became the first man to break 13 minutes (12:58.39).
In 1988 the Golden Gala moved to a temporary venue in Verona due to work at the Olympic Stadium prior to the 1990 football World Cup. In 1989 Pescara was the host of an uneventful edition. And so to Bologna in 1990, when Salvatore Antibo won the 5000m in an Italian record 13:05.59.
In 1991 the Golden Gala returned to Rome and it is impossible here to cover all the highlights since. Picking out a few, there was the building of Rome as a temple for middle distance in the 1990s, as Kenya's Moses Kiptanui set a 5000m World record (12:55.30) and Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj broke the 1500m World record (3:26.00) before featuring in arguably the greatest One Mile race of all-time. Both Kenya's Noah Ngeny and El Guerrouj ran quicker than the existing World record but, with 3:43.13, the Moroccan took possession.
The Golden Gala has not been all about runners, though. For example, in 2000, Norway's Trine Solberg-Hattestad set a World record for the women's Javelin (68.22) and, in 2008, Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva raised the World record for the Pole Vault to 5.03.
In 2005 the Golden Gala was declared the premier world's athletics event by the IAAF. There were no World records but a rich seam of strong events, a feat repeated in 2006. But the last headlines before the Diamond League era were written by sprinters as Gay clocked 9.77 for 100m, and Stewart 10.75, in 2009.
David Powell for the IDL (www.diamondleague.com)
