Jean-Pierre Watelle, who is also director of the Ligue d’Athlétisme des Hauts de France, received us at the Arena at the beginning of February. Despite an overloaded schedule, he devoted half an hour to tell us about this unmissable event in his agenda.
Fell very early in the pot
Between Jean-Pierre Watelle and Liévin, we can speak of love at first sight: “The first time I discovered Liévin, I was young, I had come with my father. It’s a great memory. I remember Bubka who crossed 6m14. Today without a doubt, it is the event that I prefer to organize. Liévin is part of me, that’s clear.”
Stay number 1
For the boss of the Meeting, there is no question of abandoning the throne to the competition: “Announcing that Liévin is the 1st indoor meeting in the world is not just about communication, it’s simple, it’s mathematics. There are rankings based on the 36 best performances of the meeting, taking into account the 3 best results per event. It is this total that makes the ranking. During the meeting the accounts are kept. At the end of the tests I know where we are. We were number 1 in 2020 and 2021. But the competition is tough.”
Liévin, a little Bollaert
Performance is not the only element to make Liévin a world reference. The public will still have a central role: “The public is the soul of this meeting, a full room with 5000 people. It’s a little Bollaert. Having the room full is 50% of the success of the meeting. The athletes all say it, the atmosphere is fantastic. It is an informed public who knows the notion of performance.”
The beautiful Ingebrigtsen story
Of course, these years spent organizing this meeting allowed Jean-Pierre Watelle to meet some great people. He has not forgotten the first steps in Liévin of the young Norwegian Jakob Ingebritsen Olympic champion in Tokyo in the 1500 meters: “I invited him when he was a junior, he didn’t have the results to get a place at the meeting. I had a request from his father. I had 6 or 7 athletes much stronger than him but 48 hours before I offered this place to this boy that I did not know. Finally He runs and breaks the European record. He had been fascinated by the atmosphere of Liévin.”
Liévin in numbers
- 1. 8 world records were broken in Liévin
- The first edition was organized in 1988
- On the program: 14 events bringing together 180 athletes