"With 10 IAAF Diamond League meetings before Rio, the IAAF Diamond League will provide a benchmark for expectation," the IAAF President said at the pre-meeting press conference.

“Athletics, which was born in antiquity, has prospered over thousands of years simply because of its ability to evolve.

“I am unashamed in my view that we have to make our sport a lot more entertaining and a lot more innovative for young people.

“It’s not just the formulaic process of saying, ‘Well, it’s a great race because a national record has been broken’ if it hasn’t attracted or absorbed the attention of young people to want to go off and emulate what they have seen on the track, join local clubs and feel that they want to be a part of the athletics movement.”

The subsequent input of world triple jump champion Christian Taylor will have been music to the ears of the President.

“Doha is very special to me because it was the first place I jumped over 18 metres," said America's Olympic champion.

“That’s a blessing and a curse, because if I jump 17.90 some people will say, ‘What’s going on?’

“If it calls for 18 metres, that’s what I’m going to have to do.

"We are entertainers. I think we should have fireworks after every jump!"

In the absence of his great rival Pedro Pablo Pichardo of Cuba, Taylor’s main opposition at the Qatar Sports Club looks likely to come from China’s Dong Bin, winner of the world indoor title last month.

Other leading lights who will perform in Doha include world 200 metres champion Dafne Schippers of The Netherlands, world 5,000m champion Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia and Omar McLeod, the Portuguese athlete who won the World Indoor 60m hurdles title in Portland last month.

Asked if she missed her previous event, the heptathlon, Schippers – on whom home hopes will rest at this summer’s European Championships in Amsterdam - responded: “I would love to do the long jump – maybe next year.

"But this year is all about the 100m, the 200m and the 4x100m.”

The seventh season of Diamond League athletics - which began with the Doha meeting of 2010 – offers three key innovations.

The points system has been extended to the first six finishers in each event – previously it was just the top three - with winners earning 10 points, runners-up earning six, and those behind them earning four, three, two and one points.

This is intended to widen the spread of points and to keep competition open for longer.

Meanwhile, the long jump and triple jump events, and all throwing events, will offer competitors three initial attempts, with only the top four progressing to a further three efforts.

And 2016 will be the year in which the IAAF Diamond League arrives in Africa.

The Meeting International Mohammed VI was welcomed into the fold in March in place of New York City, meaning the Diamond League has expanded to a new city (Rabat), a new country (Morocco) and a new continent.

Speaking alongside Coe at the opening press conference, Dahlan Al-Hamad, IAAF vice-president and President of Qatar Association of Athletics Federation, welcomed the arrival of Rabat.

“Undoubtedly Rabat joining the group of Diamond League organisations pleases us," he said. 

“If we consider Africa we find that it is one of the main continents in athletics and I think that it was time for Africa to get into the Diamond League circuit.

“Morocco has a long history in athletics and has organised world class events, including the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech.

“We wish them all success.”

There is considerable interest in how the 22-year-old McLeod will perform in the 110m hurdles, especially given his recent 9.99sec clocking in the 100m, which means he is the first athlete to have gone under 10 seconds for the 100m and under 13 seconds for the high hurdles.

However, the loaded 110m hurdles field includes America's London 2012 champion and world record holder Aries Merritt, who is seeking to retain his Olympic title this year after having a kidney transplant last year, as well as former world champion David Oliver.

The field also includes the hugely talented Spaniard Orlando Ortega, who ran 12.94 last year and who will be having his first outing of 2016.