Bislett Games

The Bislett Games are held at Bislett Stadion. Photo: Kjetil Ree

The Bislett Games is an annual track and field event at the Bislett stadion in Oslo, Norway that is one of the IAAF Golden League meetings. It is sponsored by ExxonMobil and officially known as the ExxonMobil Bislett Games.

History

Arne Haukvik was the founder the games in 1965, a former politician and director of the meeting, who used to invite the athletes, sponsors and the press to his home for his traditional “strawberry party” the day before the event each year. He died of cancer in 2002 at age 76. The tradition however is continued.

The Bislett stadion was used for speed skating events at the Olympics, but nowadays it is better known for its Bislett Games athletics meeting. Bislett Games attract the best track and field athletes from all over the world, and 61 world records have been set on its forgiving, brick-coloured track so far. Due to the building of the new Bislett Stadion in Oslo, which started in April 2004, the traditional athletics meeting was staged on Fana stadion in Bergen in 2004 under the name Bergen Bislett Games. Bislett stadium was again used from 2005.

In 2009, a severe storm delayed proceedings and even caused damage to the track-side clock display. Sanya Richards recorded the fastest women's 400 metres time since 2006 while the Dream Mile brought a number of records—with winner Deresse Mekonnen improving upon his Ethiopian record, Kenyan William Biwott setting a world junior record and third-placed Augustine Choge beating his personal best. Former javelin winners Andreas Thorkildsen and Tero Pitkämäki continued their five-year shared dominance of the Bislett Games, with Pitkämäki taking the victory this time. Six athletes won their second 2009 Golden League race to retain eligibility for the jackpot.^[1]

World records

Over the course of its history, numerous world records have been set at the Games.

Year	Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality
2008	5000 m	14:11.15	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia
2008	800 m (junior)	1:42.69	Abubaker Kaki	Sudan
2007	5000 m	14:16.63	Meseret Defar	Ethiopia
2004	5000 m	14:24.68	Elvan Abeylegesse	Turkey
2004	5000 m (junior)	14:30.88	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia
2000	Javelin throw	69.48 m	Trine Hattestad	Norway
1997	10000 m	26:31.32	Haile Gebreselassie	Ethiopia
1994	10000 m	26:52.23	William Sigei	Kenya
1994	20000 m walk	2:04:55	Bernardo Segura	Mexico
1993	10000 m	26:58.38	Yobes Ondieki	Kenya
1986	10000 m	30:13.74	Ingrid Kristiansen	Norway
1985	5000 m	13:00.40	Said Aouita	Morocco
1984	5000 m	14:58.89	Ingrid Kristiansen	Norway
1984	10000 m	30:59.42	Ingrid Kristiansen	Norway
1982	5000 m	13:00.41	David Moorcroft	United Kingdom
1981	1000 m	2:12.81	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom
1979	800 m	1:42.33	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom
1975	3000 m	8:46.6	Grete Waitz	Norway
1975	3000 m steeplechase	8:10.4	Anders Gärderud	Sweden
1974	1000 m	2:13.9	Rick Wohlhuter	United States
1965	10000 m	27:39.4	Ron Clarke	Australia
1964	Javelin throw	87.12 m & 91.72 m	Terje Pedersen	Norway
1955	1500 m	3:40.8	Laszlo Tabori Gunnar Nielsen	Hungary  Denmark
1955	3000 m steeplechase	8:45.4	Pentti Karvonen	Finland
1953	Hammer throw	62.36 m	Sverre Strandli	Norway
1952	Hammer throw	61.25 m	Sverre Strandli	Norway
1936	110 m hurdles	13.7	Forrest Towns	United States
1935	110 m hurdles	14.2	Alvin Moreau	United States
1934	Shot put	17.40 m	Jack Torrance	United States
1934	Discus throw	52.42 m	Harald Andersson	Sweden
1925	Pole vault	4.23 m	Charles Hoff	Norway
1924	110 m hurdles	14.2	Percy Beard	Canada

Meeting Records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref
100 m	9.88	Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	13 July 2001
200 m	19.82	Frank Fredericks	Namibia	5 July 1996
400 m	43.86	Michael Johnson	United States	21 July 1995
800 m	1:42.33	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom	5 July 1979
1000 m	2:12.18	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom	11 July 1981
1500 m	3:29.12	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	9 July 1998
Mile	3:44.90	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	4 July 1997
2000 m	4:51.52	John Walker	New Zealand	30 June 1976
3000 m	7:27.42	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	9 July 1998
2 Miles	8:15.2	Rod Dixon	New Zealand	17 July 1979
5000 m	12:52.26	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	27 June 2003	[2]
6 Miles	26:47.0	Ron Clarke	Australia	14 July 1965
10000 m	26:31.32	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	4 July 1997
110 m hurdles	13.14 13.14 (+0.2 m/s)	Allen Johnson Stanislav Olijars	United States  Latvia	4 July 1997 27 June 2003	[3]
400 m hurdles	47.67	Edwin Moses	United States	17 July 1979
2000 m steeplechase	5:20.00	Krzysztof Wesołowski	Poland	28 June 1984
3000 m steeplechase	8:03.36	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya	21 July 1995
High jump	2.37 m	Javier Sotomayor	Cuba	1 July 1989
Pole vault	6.00 m	Tim Lobinger	Germany	30 June 1999
Long jump	8.33 m	James Beckford	Jamaica	30 June 1999
Triple jump	18.01 m	Jonathan Edwards	United Kingdom	9 July 1998
Shot put	22.02 m	Werner Günthör	Switzerland	6 July 1991
Discus throw	70.51 m	Virgilijus Alekna	Lithuania	15 June 2007	[4]
Hammer throw	81.14 m	Jurij Tamm	Estonia	16 July 1985
Javelin throw	94.22 m (old design) 92.60 m (Current design)	Michael Wessing Raymond Hecht	West Germany  Germany	3 August 1978 21 July 1995
5000 m walk	20:27.0+	Erling Andersen	Norway	3 August 1979
10000 m walk	40:50.0	Erling Andersen	Norway	3 August 1979
20000 m walk	1:27:56.8	Erling Andersen	Norway	23 August 1981
30000 m walk	2:35:45.6	Tore Brustad	Norway	20 July 1970
50000 m walk	4:42:10.0	Per Ola Sverre	Norway	9 August 1974

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref
100 m	10.82	Marion Jones	United States	9 July 1998
200 m	21.94	Gwen Torrence	United States	22 July 1994
400 m	49.23	Tatjana Kocembova	Czechoslovakia	23 August 1983
800 m	1:55.04	Jarmila Kratochvilova	Czechoslovakia	23 August 1983
1500 m	3:57.40	Suzy Favor-Hamilton	United States	28 July 2000
Mile	4:17.25	Sonia O'Sullivan	Ireland	22 July 1994
3000 m	8:27.21	Gabriela Szabo	Romania	30 June 1999
5000 m	14:16.63	Meseret Defar	Ethiopia	15 June 2007	[5]
10000 m	30:13.74	Ingrid Kristiansen	Norway	5 July 1986
100 m hurdles	12.53	Gail Devers	United States	28 June 2002
400 m hurdles	53.18	Deon Hemmings	Jamaica	4 July 1997
3000 m steeplechase	9:14.77	Gulnara Galkina	Russia	6 June 2008	[6]
High jump	2.05 m	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	4 July 1987
Pole vault	4.85 m	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	15 June 2007	[7]
Long jump	7.29 m	Heike Drechsler	Germany	22 July 1994
Triple jump	15.11 m (+0.1 m/s)	Yamilé Aldama	Cuba	27 June 2003	[8]
Shot put	20.24 m	Nunu Abashdize	Ukraine	6 July 1991
Discus throw	71.00 m	Galina Savinkova	Russia	16 July 1985
Javelin throw	76.34 m (old design) 69.48 m (Current design)	Fatima Whitbread Trine Hattestad	United Kingdom  Norway	4 July 1987 28 July 2000
3000 m walk	13:45.7	Frøydis Hilsen	Norway	23 August 1981
5000 m walk	22:59.6	Anita Blomberg	Norway	17 June 1988

+ = in route to longer distance

See also

• Dream Mile

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bislett Games

• Bislett Games web site

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