The heart of world athletics beats in Doha this spring, with the first stage of the Diamond League on Friday May 10. But the capital could soon make room for a larger event. Dahlan Al-Hamad, the president of the Qatar Athletics Federation, announced it very officially on the eve of the meeting: Doha will apply to host the outdoor world championships in 2019.

In itself, the news is not very surprising. Qatar was already a candidate for the 2017 World Championships, finally awarded by the IAAF in London, after a two-way battle. To put it simply, the Gulf microstate wants everything, or almost. With one fixed idea: the Summer Games. His candidacy was not accepted by the IOC for those of 2020, where the short list was reduced in Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo. But the country will return there, probably from 2024.

Without predicting the future, it is easy to imagine that the file presented by Qatar to the IAAF will resemble the one put together for the 2017 World Championships. At the time, the Qataris had put the sum on the table of 5 million pounds (a little less than €6 million at current prices), a donation that the International Athletics Federation could have used to develop the discipline almost everywhere on the planet. The event would take place at the end of September or beginning of October. The Khalifa International Stadium, located within the perimeter of the Aspire sports complex, would have been cooled by a solar-powered air conditioning system.

To the two candidates, London and Doha, the IAAF then offered to come to an agreement to share the 2017 and 2019 World Championships “in good agreement”. But the British and Qataris refused, neither of them wanting to give in to the other. the organization of the first of the two events. It was rumored that pressure from sponsors pushed IAAF members to choose London.

Doha swallowed its disappointment. And, stubborn but patient, the Qataris return to battle. To date, they are the only ones in the race. Lamine Diack, the president of the IAAF, specified that the candidacy process would begin in 2014. Created in 1983, but organized every two years since 1993, the outdoor World Athletics Championships have never yet installed their decor in an Arab country.