It is the year 1976 and the sport of track and field barely exists in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and is not well-known by the public, compared to the German-speaking part. Moreover, given the lack of adequate infrastructures, major national competitions rarely take place outside German-speaking Switzerland. And as far as foreign champions are concerned, the great Letzigrund track in Zurich is the only place they know in Switzerland.
Neverthless, the situation is not that desperate. The public in French-speaking Switzerland is not any less interested in track and field than anywhere else. Furthermore, the greatest post-war athlete Switzerland has ever known, Philippe Clerc, came from Territet in French-speaking Switzerland, and ran for the local club Stade Lausanne.
A void needed to be filled
Former 800m runner Jacky Delapierre is asked by Stade Lausanne to help organize the inauguration of the Pierre de Coubertin stadium. Although he is aware of the difficulties ahead, he chooses to see big and thinks something better can be accomplished. The adventure begins on July 8, 1977, and original plans to inaugurate a stadium, turn into the organization of an international event, which was to be held on a yearly basis following that year.
On that famous July 8, prestigious names are announced: John Walker, 1500m Olympic champion in Montreal in 1976; Mac Wilkins, also a 1976 Olympic champion in discus throwing; Rod Dixon; Dick Quax, who smashed the 5000m world record just a couple of days before; Dwight Stones, the greatest track and field show man the sport has ever known, who dreams of getting his world record back in high jumping now that Soviet Yatchenko just took it away from him. Everything is ready for a wonderful celebration, but at 6pm sharp, it starts raining cats and dogs on Vidy. Will this be the beginning and the end of the Lausanne Meeting? The public and the athletes certainly don’t think so. And so umbrellas in hand, 5,600 spectators start walking to the cashiers. The star athletes can’t believe their eyes and are simply charmed. They just can’t let the crowd down, although the sky would certainly give them a good excuse. And so the athletes give their all, Stones perhaps even more.
After his misadventure at the Montreal Games, the champion from California had proclaimed from the rooftops that he would never jump on a wet runway again. But in Vidy, it’s a different story. Between two attempts, one could even see him take the broom and sweep the water away! He gives up his fight against the bad weather only after having cleared the height of 2.26m. And the show is not over yet! Backstage, the most unbelievable thing happens. Dwight Stones walks up to Delapierre and tells him: “What is happening here tonight is really fantastic. I, John Walker and others are ready to come back in three weeks to offer this crowd the show it deserves.” And so at the beginning of August, a second international meeting is held. Then another one, and another one, thanks in great part to Dwight Stones and John Walker.
(Translated from an article published in Construire, July 1979).