2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships

The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of four IAAF World Athletics Series events in 2012, which includes the World Race Walking Cup, the World Junior Championships and the World Half Marathon Championships.

Preparation

The IAAF announced on March 25, 2007 at an IAAF Council meeting in Mombasa, Kenya that it had received bids from Turkey and Qatar to host the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In November 2007 at an IAAF Council meeting in Monaco, Doha was selected to host the 2010 edition, but due to the quality of the Istanbul bid, the Turkish city was chosen to host the following edition of the competition in 2012. It will be the first time that Turkey has hosted a major global athletics event. Previously, the highest level events that the country had hosted included the Athletics at the 2005 Summer Universiade and lower-level sections of the European Cup/European Team Championships.

International Association of Athletics Federations

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. It was founded on 17 July 1912 as the International Amateur Athletics Federation by representatives from 17 national athletics federations at the organization's first congress in Stockholm, Sweden. Since October 1993, it has been headquartered in Monaco.

Beginning in 1982, the IAAF passed several amendments to its rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for participating in international competitions. However, the organization retained the word amateur in its name until its 2001 congress, at which it changed its name to International Association of Athletics Federations.

The IAAF's president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom. He was elected at the 2015 congress before the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China.

Foundation

The process to found the IAAF was started at a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden on July 17 1912 soon after the completion of the 1912 Summer Olympics in that city. Here 27 representatives from 17 national federations agreed to meet at a congress in Germany the following year overseen by Sigfrid Edström who was to become the fledgling organisation's first president. The congress that started on August 20 1913 in Berlin is when the foundation of the IAAF was formally completed.