European Cup (athletics)

(Redirected from Bruno Zauli Cup)

The European Cup is a former athletics competition for European teams that was replaced by the European Team Championships starting in 2009 and was organized by European Athletics Association. The European Cup saw most of the major nations of Europe compete. Originally known as the Bruno Zauli Cup, it first took place in 1965 in Stuttgart (men) and Kassel (women), Germany. Initially, the competition was a bi-annual event (tri-annual once); however, from 1993, it took place once every year.

European Athletics Cup
Statusdefunct
Genresports event
Frequencyannual / biannual
Location(s)various
Inaugurated1965
Most recent2008
Organised byEuropean Athletic Association
Websitewww.european-athletics.com
European Athletics Members

History

edit

The main idea of the cup, developed by Bruno Zauli, president of the European Committee of the International Association of Athletics Federations, was to create a competition for all European athletics federations, in which they would face each other in track and field events. Although Zauli died a few months before the launch of the first event, the competition has gone from strength to strength.[clarification needed (unclear wording)]

The competition always had different leagues through which countries had to progress. For the first twenty years, there were different groups (leagues) that took place[clarification needed (unclear wording)] at different times. Smaller nations, like Luxembourg and Switzerland, would compete in preliminary rounds, before larger countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, would join in the semi-finals. The top two countries from three semi-finals would enter into the final.

This formula was fairly successful; however, by 1983 the number of competitions that athletes were expected to compete in made it extremely difficult for countries to send their best team to each event. The format of the cup had to be changed so that each country in the whole cup competed on the same day.

The top league was named the Super League and contained eight male and eight female teams. The male and female teams were separate teams, which meant that the female team of one country could get relegated while their male counterpart would stay in the Super League as long as they had enough points. Below the Super League were the First and Second Leagues, which contained other European countries that did not qualify for the finals.

European Team Championships

edit

In 2009, the competition took a new format, European Team Championships. There are now four leagues, which consist of 20 events for men and 20 for women. The Super League and the First League have 12 teams each, while the Second League and the Third League 8 and 14 respectively. Team scores are calculated by combination of men and women's points.

Scoring system and relegation

edit

Countries scored points for their performance in each race/event: The winning athlete received 8 points for their country, and this then carried on so second would get 7 points, third 6 points, etc. In the case of an athlete that did not finish a race, was disqualified or did not record a mark (as the case may be), their country would receive zero points for that event.

The male and female team with the most points was declared the winner. The four winning teams from the 'Super League' (two male and two female) went on to compete as individual countries in the IAAF World Cup in Athletics.

Since 1983, the lowest scoring male, and the lowest scoring female teams in the 'Super League' were relegated down into the 'First League'. These were replaced by the highest scoring male and female teams from the 'First League'. This process was repeated for relegation/promotion from the second to the first league. This system allowed countries to progress, and for a wider range of athletes to compete against opposition they might not normally face.

League positions in 2009

edit

The leagues for the 2009 competition were formed by combination of each country's men and women's performances in 2008. As the teams are 46, the winning team received 46 points, the second 45 and so on. The new leagues are:[1]

Super League
Country Pts
  Russia 1548
  Great Britain 1518
  Poland 1512
  Germany 1472
  Italy 1455
  Spain 1426.5
  France 1423.5
  Ukraine 1412.5
  Greece 1359.5
  Sweden 1309
  Czech Republic 1236
  Portugal 1222
First League
Country Pts
  Belarus 1217
  Slovenia 1211
  Romania 1182.5
  Turkey 1166
  Belgium 1139
  Hungary 1133
  Netherlands 1118
  Finland 1072.5
  Estonia 1035.5
   Switzerland 1032.5
  Serbia 1028.5
  Norway 974
Second League
Country Pts
  Ireland 971.5
  Bulgaria 947
  Croatia 942
  Latvia 933
  Slovakia 901
  Lithuania 839.5
  Austria 783
  Cyprus 749
Third League
Country Pts
  Moldova 722
  Israel 714
  Denmark 709.5
  Bosnia and Herzegovina 555.5
  Iceland 550.5
  Luxembourg 399.5
  Georgia 356
  Azerbaijan 332.5
  Montenegro 310.5
  Armenia 301.5
AASSE 280
  Albania 191
  Andorra 187
  Macedonia 164

Winners

edit
European Cup highest tier winners
Year Finals Semi-Finals Prelims Middle tier Lowest tier Men's winner Women's winner Finals host city Finals host country
1965 Final Semi-Final Preliminaries   Soviet Union   Soviet Union Stuttgart/Kassel   West Germany
1967 Final Semi-Final Preliminaries   Soviet Union   Soviet Union Kiev   Soviet Union
1970 Final Semi-Final Preliminaries   East Germany   East Germany Stockholm/Budapest   Sweden/  Hungary
1973 Final Semi-Final Preliminaries   Soviet Union   East Germany Edinburgh   Great Britain
1975 Final Semi-Final Preliminaries   East Germany   East Germany Nice   France
1977 "A" Final Semi-Final Preliminaries "B" Final   East Germany   East Germany Helsinki   Finland
1979 "A" Final Semi-Final Preliminaries "B" Final   East Germany   East Germany Turin   Italy
1981 "A" Final Semi-Final Preliminaries "B" Final   East Germany   East Germany Zagreb   Yugoslavia
1983 "A" Final "B" Final "C" Final   East Germany   East Germany London   Great Britain
1985 "A" Final "B" Final "C" Final   Soviet Union   Soviet Union Moscow   Soviet Union
1987 "A" Final "B" Final "C" Final   Soviet Union   East Germany Prague   Czechoslovakia
1989 "A" Final "B" Final "C" Final   Great Britain   East Germany Gateshead   Great Britain
1991 "A" Final "B" Final "C" Final   Soviet Union   Germany Frankfurt   Germany
1993 Super League First League Second League   Russia   Russia Rome   Italy
1994 Super League First League Second League   Germany   Germany Birmingham   Great Britain
1995 Super League First League Second League   Germany   Russia Villeneuve d'Ascq   France
1996 Super League First League Second League   Germany   Germany Madrid   Spain
1997 Super League First League Second League   Great Britain   Russia Munich   Germany
1998 Super League First League Second League   Great Britain   Russia Saint Petersburg   Russia
1999 Super League First League Second League   Germany   Russia Paris   France
2000 Super League First League Second League   Great Britain   Russia Gateshead   Great Britain
2001 Super League First League Second League   Poland   Russia Bremen   Germany
2002 Super League First League Second League   Great Britain   Russia Annecy   France
2003 Super League First League Second League   France   Russia Florence   Italy
2004 Super League First League Second League   Germany   Russia Bydgoszcz   Poland
2005 Super League First League Second League   Germany   Russia Florence   Italy
2006 Super League First League Second League   France   Russia Málaga   Spain
2007 Super League First League Second League   France   Russia Munich   Germany
2008 Super League First League Second League   Great Britain   Russia Annecy   France

Best performances

edit

Below is a list of the events that took place at the championships, and what is the European Cup record, who set it, what country they represented and which year.


100 m: 10.04 - Linford Christie, Great Britain 1996, 1997
200 m: 20.11 - Linford Christie, Great Britain, 1995
400 m: 44.75 - David Grindley, Great Britain, 1993
800 m: 1:44.28 - Wilson Kipketer, Denmark, 2002
1,500 m: 3:33.63 - José Manuel Abascal, Spain, 1983
3,000 m: 7:41.08 - Dieter Baumann, Germany, 1997
5,000 m: 13:21.68 - Salvatore Antibo, Italy, 1991
10,000 m: 27:32.85 - Fernando Mamede, Portugal, 1983
3,000 m Steeplechase: 8:13.32 - Mariano Scartezzini, Italy, 1981
110 m Hurdles: 13.10 - Colin Jackson, Great Britain, 1993
400 m Hurdles: 47.85 - Harald Schmid, West Germany, 1979, 1985
4 × 100 m Relay: 38.16 - Great Britain (Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish, Julian Golding), 1999
4 × 400 m Relay: 2:59.46 - Great Britain (Roger Black, Jamie Baulch, Ewan Thomas, Mark Richardson), 1997


High Jump: 2.40 m - Patrik Sjöberg, Sweden, 1989
Pole Vault: 6.00 m - Radion Gataullin, Russia, 1993
=Long Jump: 8.38 - Robert Emmiyan, Soviet Union, 1987
=Long Jump: 8.38 - Kirill Sosunov, Russia, 1998
Triple Jump: 17.77 - Khristo Markov, Bulgaria, 1985
Shot put: 22.05 - Sergey Smirnov, Soviet Union, 1985
Hammer: 82.90 - Jüri Tamm, Soviet Union, 1985
Discus: 68.76 - Lars Riedel, Germany, 1995
Javelin: 92.41 - Aki Parviainen, Finland, 2001

Women

edit


100 m: 10.77 - Ivet Lalova, Bulgaria 2004
200 m: 21.99 - Silke Gladisch, East Germany, 1987
=400 m: 48.60 - Marita Koch, East Germany, 1979
=400 m: 48.60 - Olga Vladykina, Soviet Union, 1985
800 m: 1:55.91 - Jarmila Kratachvilova, Czechoslovakia, 1985
1,500 m: 3:58.40 - Ravilya Agletdinova, Soviet Union, 1985
3,000 m: 8:35.32 - Zola Budd, Great Britain, 1985
5,000 m: 14:29.11 - Paula Radcliffe, Great Britain, 2004
10,000 m: 31:03.62 - Kathrin Ullrich, Germany, 1991
3,000 m Steeplechase: 9:35.95 - Cristina Casandra, Romania, 2005
110 m Hurdles: 12.47 - Cornelia Oschkenat, East Germany, 1987
400 m Hurdles: 53.38 - Yuliya Pechonkina, Russia, 2002
4 × 100 m Relay: 41.65 - East Germany (Silke Gladisch, Marita Koch, Ingrid Auerswald-Lange, Marlies Göhr), 1985
4 × 400 m Relay: 3:18.58 - Soviet Union (Olga Nazarova, Nadiya Olizarenko, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Vladykina), 1985


High Jump: 2.06m - Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgaria, 1985
Pole Vault: 4.75m - Monika Pyrek, Poland, 2006
Long Jump: 7.42 - Tatyana Kotova, Russia, 2002
Triple Jump: 14.98 - Tatyana Lebedeva, Russia, 2000
Shot put: 21.56 - Natalya Lisovskaya, Soviet Union, 1987
Hammer: 76.50 - Tatyana Lysenko, Russia, 2006
Discus: 73.90 - Diana Gansky, East Germany, 1987
Javelin: 70.20 - Christina Obergföll, Germany, 2007

Hosts

edit
# Year A Final B Final
1 1965   Stuttgart (men), Kassel (women)
2 1967   Kiev
3 1970   Stockholm
4 1973   Edinburgh
5 1975   Nice
6 1977   Helsinki   Gothenburg (men),   Třinec (women)
7 1979   Turin   Karlovac (men),   Paris (women)
8 1981   Zagreb   Athens (men),   Pescara (women)
9 1983   London   Prague (men),   Sittard (women)
10 1985   Moscow   Budapest (men),   Budapest (women)
11 1987   Prague   Gothenburg (men),   Gothenburg (women)
12 1989   Gateshead   Brussels (men),   Strasbourg (women)
13 1991   Frankfurt   Barcelona
14 1993   Rome   Brussels
15 1994   Birmingham   Valencia
16 1995   Villeneuve d'Ascq   Basel,   Turku
17 1996   Madrid   Lisbon,   Bergen
18 1997   Munich   Prague,   Dublin
19 1998   St. Petersburg   Budapest,   Malmö
20 1999   Paris   Lahti,   Athens
21 2000   Gateshead   Oslo,   Bydgoszcz
21 2001   Bremen   Vaasa,   Budapest
22 2002   Annecy   Banská Bystrica,   Seville
23 2003   Florence   Lappeenranta,   Velenje
24 2004   Bydgoszcz   Plovdiv,   Istanbul
25 2005   Florence   Gävle,   Leiria
26 2006   Málaga   Prague,   Thessaloniki
27 2007   Munich   Vaasa,   Milan
28 2008   Annecy   Leiria,   Istanbul

Medals (1965-2008)

edit

European Cup Finals :[2]

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Russia16311299374
2  Great Britain158116117391
3  Germany152198188538
4  East Germany1428565292
5  Soviet Union10011583298
6  France9688108292
7  Poland538799239
8  Italy526290204
9  Spain30333194
10  Romania29332688
11  Ukraine254342110
12  Greece16192560
13  Czech Republic15182356
14  Bulgaria11152046
15  Belarus10101636
16  Sweden99927
17  Finland6111431
18  Hungary4101630
19  Norway1214
20  Belgium1001
  Slovenia1001
22  Netherlands0505
23  Yugoslavia0112
Totals (23 entries)1,0741,0721,0733,219

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Overall Qualification Ranking 2008". European Athletics. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  2. ^ "Athletics Podium".
edit