Sporting Greats Donate Mementos To Auction To Benefit United Nations Agencies

Track and field fans around the world will have a unique chance next week to buy their own piece of sporting history when the personal mementos of some of athletics' most famous moments go on Internet auction, with the proceeds to go to three United Nations humanitarian agencies. 

            
Fans will be bidding for one of the largest ever collections of sporting memorabilia, including one of the record-breaking 100-metre spikes worn by the world's fastest man Asafa Powell of Jamaica and the Sydney Olympic Games tracksuit of 200 and 400-metre legend Michael Johnson.

Fans will be bidding for one of the largest ever collections of sporting memorabilia, including one of the record-breaking 100-metre spikes worn by the world's fastest man Asafa Powell of Jamaica and the Sydney Olympic Games tracksuit of 200 and 400-metre legend Michael Johnson
                                                                           
In all, over 50 athletes, including 23 world record breakers, have donated running vests, bib numbers, statues and signed photos associated with heir most celebrated victories to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) “Athletics for a Better World” humanitarian project.                                                                  
                                                            
The money raised by the 16 January auction will go to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).                                                 
United States' sprinter Justin Gatlin has handed over the body suit he wore when winning the World Championships 100-metre final in Helsinki last August.
                                                                           
Among the larger items on offer is a javelin from the collection of three-time Olympic and World champion Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic.  
                                                                           
Mozambique's middle distance runner Maria Mutola has donated her Sydney Olympic Games gold medal winning kit, while WFP Ambassador and marathon world record holder Paul Tergat has given the running vest in which he narrowly won this year's New York marathon.
                                                                           
Donors include several track and field stars of the past, such as “Athlete of the Century” Carl Lewis and legendary long jumper Bob Beamon, both of the United States. Lewis, one of only two athletes to win nine Olympic gold medals, has donated his competition vest from the 1986 Goodwill Games and a tracksuit. Beamon has donated a limited edition charcoal print depicting his ground-breaking 8.90-metre jump at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, which broke the previous world record by 55 centimetres and still stands as an Olympic record, 37 years later.                               
                                                                       

The UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news is solely responsible for the contents of this press release.
23 December 2005.