By Duncan Mackay

Veronica Campbell-Brown_Doha_March_2011October 21 - Doha's bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships has received another boost after it received backing from Jamaica's triple Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.


Campbell-Brown, who won the 200 metres gold medal at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 as well as being part of the Jamaican 4x100m relay team that claimed victory in the Greek capital, joins Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva in adding some sparkle to the bid from the Qatari bid.

Campbell-Brown, who also has nine medals from the World Championships, including two gold, the latest of which was the 200m in Daegu earlier this year, claimed that she was backing Doha's bid, which is facing opposition from London, because of the opportunities it would present to help develop female athletes. 

"A World Championships in Doha is about creating new opportunities for the expansion of athletics," said Campbell-Brown, who won the 60m at last year's World Indoor Championships in Doha. 

"One cause that is close to my heart is the development of women in sports, Doha 2017 has new and innovative ideas for breaking through many barriers facing our sport, I hope my support will serve as a platform for one in particular - to advance the development of women in sports in Qatar and around the world."

Abdulla Al-Zaini, President of the Qatar Asssociation of Athletic Federations (QAAF) and executive director of the Doha 2017 Bid Committee, was delighted to have secured the backing of 29-year-old Campbell-Brown and claimed that the state-of-the-art cooling technology they are developing for the Championships would help boost the chances of the event being held in Jamaica. 

"We are pleased and honoured to have Veronica's support for our bid," he said.

"Doha 2017 is about breaking barriers and in doing so we aim to expand and develop our sport worldwide, we hope to develop solutions for the future of athletics so that one day the World Championships can expand to other countries and athletes like Veronica can experience the joy of competing in their home countries."

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