It seems remarkable that two years have passed since I communicated a similar message to the organisers in Sherbrooke, Canada, which played host to the third edition of these championships.

In 2005, we will have the opportunity to be able to adjudge future stars and trends of our sport. On this occasion, we are going to watch the current talented young generation competing at a global level for the first time in their young careers.

Many senior stars up to now have brightly emerged from this youth initiative. The most famous of all is of course the Russian woman's world Pole Vault record holder Yelena Isinbayeva who won at the inaugural edition of these Championships which were held in Bydgoszcz in 1999, and has been crowned as female World Athlete of the Year this summer..

One year before that first celebration of the World Youth Championships, our sport paid a very successful visit to Marrakesh where the 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships were staged. I am now looking forward to the return of the IAAF's World Athletics Series to Morocco next summer, anticipating again a wonderful show of great sporting value in the historical and prestigious city of the kingdom of morocco, Marrakesh.