After the foundation of the
International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) in 1912, it was clear there needed to be a European committee as part of the governing board. While the idea originally met with some resistance, it was the active promotion by the
Hungarian representative
Szilard Stankovits that bought the initiative to life following the
Los Angeles congress of the IAAF in 1932. Following this meeting, the Council officially designated a European Commission (chaired by Stankovits) with the task of reviewing the conditions for the organisation of the
European Athletics Championships. The first official meeting of what was later to be known as the European Commission was held in Budapest on 7 January 1934. The organization of the
first European Athletics Championships was officially awarded to
Turin. These first games were men-only and were notable by the absence of the British delegation, which opposed an event seen as competing with its own
British Empire Games. to US$40,000 per year in 1970. It was also during that period that the Commission started experimenting and developing a greater range of events besides the European Championships: the
European Junior Championships (1964), the
European Cup (1965), the
Indoor championships (1966). , the Association's first president (1969–1976)The Commission officially became a Committee in July 1952, gradually expanding its independence. The members of the Commission were elected at regular IAAF Congresses until 1966 when, for the first time, their selection became European-only. The shift also reflects the increased income received from television rights, as earnings took off as a direct result of broadcasting arrangements. The 1969 European championships secured a record US$90,000 from
Eurovision for the rights to broadcast the event. It was then decided that the European Committee would directly receive these funds in order to benefit its members (rather than having it redistributed by the IAAF.) The
European Championships of 1974 included a wider range of banned products than previously, with
anabolic steroids being checked at all other subsequent events. As such, the European Association became an experimental platform for international athletics, organising events before they were recognized by the
International Olympic Committee. For example, the women's
marathon was included in the 1982 championships and became an Olympic distance for female athletes at the
1984 Summer Olympics. The late 1980s saw major new challenges for sports in general, and European athletics in particular, with the increased professionalization of athletes and the
breakdown of the Eastern Bloc. There was a huge increase in member federations (34 to 49 between 1987 and 1991) and the growing complexity of financial and commercial negotiations as well as an ever-expanding calendar of events meant that the organisation had to adapt. Till Luft, from Germany, became the first full-time General Secretary in 1995 and worked at the first European Athletics office in
Frankfurt and, after April 1996,
Darmstadt. A second office was also opened in London, next to the IAAF. A few years later, because of the somewhat unfavourable nature of the
German tax system towards non-profit organizations, the proposal was made to merge both offices and move out of Germany. The move to
Switzerland and necessary changes to Constitutional Rules were approved at the Athens Congress of 2003, and the new location opened in
Lausanne (where several other sports organizations, including the
IOC, were already located) on 1 January 2004. ==Members and Governance==