World athletics first for Doha but issue of migrant workers mars bid It was impossible to hear the sound of boxes being ticked - or egos being massaged - as Doha's bid team for the 2019 World Athletics Championships gave their final presentation to the International Association of Athletics Associations in Monaco on Tuesday lunchtime. But in a shade over 30 minutes the 27 voting members of the IAAF council were left in no doubt about what awaited them if the event went to the Middle East for the first time. There would be opulence and opportunities. State-of-the-art facilities and untapped new markets would create a "true legacy" for track and field. And, as they reminded delegates shortly after explaining that the IAAF family would be put up in the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel for the event, Qatar was a "trusted partner which had never failed the IAAF." There was one enormous elephant in the room: the way Qatar treats the migrant workers building the facilities for the 2022 World Cup. Hundreds of them have died, had their passports taken or been horribly exploited. It is an issue that has prompted global outrage - but few searching questions on the campaign trail. The Doha bid ignored it in the final presentation and, because voting over-ran by more than an hour, journalists were unable to tackle them about it either. But Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International remain worried about the lack of safeguards for construction workers building the athletes" village and other facilities for Doha 2019. Nicholas McGeehan, Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, told the Guardian: "The IAAF must surely have known that Qatar's labour system remains deeply exploitative so this raises the question as to how important it considers the lives and welfare of the migrant workers on whom the 2019 World Championships will depend." Meanwhile Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International's researcher on migrants" rights in the Gulf, warned of real concerns that the world athletics championships and the 2022 World Cup will "take place under a shadow of migrant labour abuse." But such concerns fell on deaf ears. Doha, the frontrunner since narrowly losing to London in the race for the 2017 World Championships, squeaked home in a closer result than expected. After the first round of voting, none of the three candidate cities had the majority needed for victory, with Doha gaining 12 votes, Eugene, Oregon, nine and Barcelona six. But after the Spanish city was eliminated, its votes were split evenly, pushing Doha over the line by 15 votes to 12. During Eugene's bid the London 2012 200m gold medallist, Allyson Felix, had told the IAAF that bringing the event to the US for the first time would lead to "a revolution" in track and field, while the world decathlon holder, Ashton Eaton, stressed the "magic" of the Hayward Field, a place where "athletics dreams can be made." While Eugene's bid tugged on the IAAF's heartstrings, Doha stroked its erogenous zones. There was that promise of the Mandarin Oriental hotel while the athletes" village would also be of "five-star quality." Doha also pledged to deliver a fully renovated stadium, with a state-of-the-art design including the world's first 100 metre digital screen, allowing viewers to see multiple events and advertisers "to shine like never before." Then there was the emphasis on conquering virgin lands. As the Qatari presentation pointed out, 60% of the 450m people living in the Gulf are under 30. "This is a region ready and waiting to be inspired by athletics," it said. It was stirring stuff. Less convincing, however, was the insistence of the Qatar Olympic Committee's senior adviser, Aphrodite Moschoudi, that moving the championships from its traditional mid-August spot to 28 September to 6 October would actually be an advantage. "There are two great things about these dates," she claimed. First the temperature in Doha at this time of year is no different from several recent world championships. Second, it would allow us to introduce the innovation of staging the championships as a fantastic grand finale to the season, which we know is something you often discuss. But during the last week of September and the first week of October this year the mean temperature was 37C (F99) in Doha, which rather belied Moschoudi's claims that the giant cold water tanks that will pump cool air under spectator seats in the refurbished Khalifa International Stadium would not be needed. It is perhaps telling that the marathon will be held at night when the temperatures will be in merely the high 20s. At the end of Doha's presentation the country's brilliant high jumper, Mutaz Barshim, addressed the IAAF directly. "Track and field is the mother of sport," he said. So it is sad to see other sports developing faster. That is why we must all come together to take it to the next horizon. Together we can defy gravity. And so they did. But whether Qatar will also continue to defy those speaking up for workers" rights remains a pertinent - and sadly open - question.