Hosting the world proves to be extraordinary experience

It's a wrap!

Edmonton, AB - The Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics has
concluded, with more than 400,000 in attendance at an action-packed 10 days
of exciting competition.

"Our final, total attendance for the past 10 days was 400,886 and we're
extremely pleased with the daily average attendance of 40,089 at the
Stadium. We went from just slightly under 29,000 on Saturday, Aug. 4 to a
high of 54,920 on Day 10, the Closing Ceremony," said Chairman of the
Board, Jack Agrios.

"I'm also very happy to announce that not only did we surpass our budget
target of $12.5 million in ticket revenue, we believe we have set the stage
for future Championships to be held on this continent," Agrios noted.
"We've also set the foundation for the future development of track and
field in Canada through the Run, Jump and Throw Education Program."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the Canadian broadcast
Rightsholder, says the viewing audience was also strong throughout the 10
days. During prime time in the early evening, an average of 588,000
households was glued to their sets watching the action from Commonwealth
Stadium. Still thousands upon thousands more lined the streets of Edmonton
to take in the two marathons and the race-walk events.

Kinsmen Park was also the site of large crowds who took in the free,
nightly entertainment for eight nights at The Festival of The World's. In
total, approximately 220,000 people attended the concerts, for an average
of 27,500 per evening.

And, The World's Plaza located in Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton saw
more than 205,000 for nine days of entertainment and hands-on activities.
Average daily attendance for the nine days at the Plaza was 25,625.

"It took a great deal of work to make sure everything was in place before
the Championships began 10 days ago," said Jim Hole, Chair, Fit Out,
Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics. "Work got underway last
night to turn Commonwealth Stadium back over to the City of Edmonton to
ensure its readiness for this Friday night's Edmonton Eskimos home game."

Decommissioning includes getting the field at Commonwealth Stadium
converted back into a football field, taking out the areas at the south end
that were used for medal presentations, photography areas and the media
mixed zone, as well as replacing the press tribune areas with spectator
seats.

Plans are also in the works to turn over the lumber that was used for many
of the temporary structures that were utilized during The World's to
Habitat For Humanity in Edmonton. "The amount of wood that will be given to
this outstanding organization will assist them in building more than three,
one-thousand square foot homes," emphasized Hole. An auction sale to
dispose of the Championships' assets, including the banners, will be set in
the near future.

Equipment such as discuses, shot puts, javelins, high jump and pole vault
mats will be turned over to Athletics Alberta for use by young athletes in
training right across the province.

This is the first time the IAAF World Championships in Athletics have been
held in North America. There were 200 competing federations, with an
additional six involved in Congress, for a total of 206 federations
participating at these Championships. As of August 3, 2001, 1766 athletes
and 1413 officials came to Edmonton for The World's.  1643 broadcast media,
from 86 companies, and 1035 print and photographers were accredited to
cover The World's.

Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics would like to acknowledge
the following partners: IAAF Partners TDK, Adidas, Coca-Cola, EPSON, SEIKO,
Eurovision and TBS.
Government Partners: Government of Canada, Government of Alberta and the
City of Edmonton; Sport Partners: Athletics Canada and Athletics Alberta;
National Partners: TELUS, Royal Bank Financial Group, Labatt, EPCOR, IKON
Office Solutions, Sony of Canada Ltd. and the General Motors Dealers of
Edmonton. For further information, visit the Edmonton 2001 Web site at
www.2001.edmonton.com.

For more information:
Randy Kilburn APR 
Media Relations, Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics  
Telephone: (780) 821-2704
Cellular: (780) 919-4253
e-mail: [email protected]