Sally Bolton has been announced as managing director of the London 2017 World Athletics Championships ©UKASally Bolton, a major figure involved in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, has been announced as managing director of the London 2017 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in the latest high-profile appointment for a female sports administrator in Britain.


The event in the Olympic Stadium, a double header consisting of both the IAAF World Championships and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships, is seen as the most important sporting event to be held in the capital since London 2012. 

It will also mark the first time the two World Championships are held in the same city in a single year.

The appointment of someone with the experience of Bolton, who has served 19 years in various capacities within rugby league, therefore appears an apt one. 

It also marks another major appointment for a female administrator in British sport following the work of Debbie Jevans as chief executive of the England 2015 Rugby Union World Cup Organising Committee.

After working for the Rugby Football League (RFL) during the sport's centenary celebrations in 1995, Bolton worked in a marketing and commercial capacity for club side Leeds Rhinos, and then as chief executive of Wigan RL.  

In 2007 she returned to the RFL as events manager, before serving as director of projects and planning for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, a role she was strongly praised for and has described as a "unique privilege". 

The 2017 World Athletics Championships will take place in the Olympic Stadium in London ©Getty ImagesThe 2017 World Athletics Championships will take place in the Olympic Stadium in London ©Getty Images



"We are delighted to have recruited a leader of Sally's calibre," said UK Athletics chief executive Niels De Vos.

"She was the outstanding candidate for a role which attracted global interest.  

"She has precisely the hands-on delivery experience we are after, and has the accolades to prove it from her successful leadership of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup."

Similar excitement was conveyed by Bolton herself as she looks forward to tackling a new area. 

"This is one of the biggest sports event challenges anywhere in the world, with responsibility for staging two World Championships back to back on the same scale to athletics in the Olympics and Paralympics," she said.

"To have been offered the chance to lead the delivery in London, in the Olympic Stadium, following the massive success of athletics in 2012, is a huge challenge and an even bigger inspiration."

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