IAAF Grand Prix

Created in 1985, the IAAF Grand Prix was the first global series of outdoor invitational track and field meetings organised by the IAAF. It followed on from the IAAF Golden Events (1978–82), where the IAAF helped finance meetings between the world's top athletes to encourage seasonal engagement with the sport outside of the Olympic cycle. The creation of the IAAF Grand Prix circuit came two years after the first World Championships in Athletics in 1983, highlighting the sports governing body's pivot to a more direct role in organising athletics competitions. From 1985 to 1992 the series featured Grand Prix Meetings and IAAF Permit Meetings. The competing athletes at the final earned additional points for their performances there, and the series winner of each event was the athlete with the highest score (as opposed to the Grand Prix Final event winner). In 1993 the Grand Prix format was amended so that the event winner was the first place athlete at the Final competitions, rather than the seasonal points leader, and this format continued until the last Grand Prix Final in 2002. In response, the IAAF Grand Prix series was again expanded with the foundation of the IAAF Golden League in 1998, which split out the Golden Four meetings (plus the Herculis and Golden Gala meets) as a new top tier within the IAAF Grand Prix circuit. After this point, the IAAF Grand Prix referred to multiple concepts in that it was both an annual series of track and field meetings incorporating four tiers (the IAAF Golden League, IAAF Grand Prix, IAAF Grand Prix II and Area Permit Meetings) as well as a term to refer to the second and third tiers of that series. In 2003, an IAAF Super Grand Prix level was added to the circuit, the IAAF Permit Meeting tier was dropped, and the Grand Prix Final was replaced with the IAAF World Athletics Final. In 2003 the IAAF World Outdoor Meetings brand superseded the IAAF Grand Prix to the umbrella series concept and Grand Prix levels I and II continued within that series. In 2006, the IAAF World Athletics Tour was formed to replace the World Outdoor Meetings and at this time the IAAF Grand Prix II tier was dropped in favour of an Area Permit Meeting structure. ==Editions==

The IAAF Grand Prix calendar was subject to change during its lifetime, with the number of meetings, the constituent meetings, the categorisation of meetings, and the duration of the series all regularly changing from year to year. Athletes received points based on their performances at the meetings on the circuit, with more points being given at the more prestigious and competitive competitions. From 2006 to 2009, series points could also be scored in certain events at Area Permit Meeting qualifiers (APM-Qs), although the meetings themselves were not considered a formal part of the meeting series. A total of seven meeting categories existed over the lifetime of the circuit: • GL : IAAF Golden League • SGP : IAAF Super Grand Prix • GP : IAAF Grand Prix • GP2 : IAAF Grand Prix II • GPF : IAAF Grand Prix Final • WAF : IAAF World Athletics Final • PM : IAAF/Area Permit Meeting Key: • Additionally in the 1987 season, four North American meetings each organized four or five individual events with Grand Prix status. ==Meetings==

• The 1985–1987 IAC International meets were held in London • The 1986 Olympischer Tag was held in Dresden • The 1988 Golden Gala was held in Verona • The London Grand Prix was held in Sheffield in 1997 and 1998 • The second British meet was held in Sheffield in 2002, 2005, and 2007 • The 1990–1994 Saint-Denis/Paris meets were held in Lille. • The 1996–2001 Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo meets were held in Rio de Janeiro • The 2003 Athens Grand Prix Tsiklitiria was held in Trikala • The Brothers Znamensky Memorial was held in Moscow (1985, 1987, 1990–1997, 2001–2002), Leningrad (1988), Volgograd (1989), St Petersburg (2000), and Tula, Russia (2003); in 1986 the Moscow meeting was called Goodwill Games ==Series winners==

In addition to event-level winners decided after the IAAF Grand Prix Final, the male and female athletes with the highest points scores across ally events were crowned the overall IAAF Grand Prix winners. Prize money was awarded to the eight top-scoring athletes on the circuit, with first prize being US$200,000 in 1998. ==References==