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IAAF : Int. Amateur Athletic Federation > 
The International Amateur Athletic Federation was founded in 1912 by 17 national athletic federations who saw the need for a governing authority, for an athletic programme, for standardised technical equipment and world records.
In 1982, the IAAF abandoned the traditional concept of amateurism and in 1985 created trust funds for athletes. The way to high performance was opened to larger groups of extremely talented athletes. Steadily, there has been a change from the so-called amateurs to financially motivated and secure athletes at the highest levels and this development has continued with the introduction of the IAAF Competition Awards in 1997, which offered prize money to successful athletes for the first time in the history of IAAF competitions. The development of applied sports sciences, improved equipment and new training and competition techniques, brought even more changes to the sport. Sadly, performance enhancing drugs became more prominent at this time as well, jeopardising the moral fabric of sport as well as the health and lives of young people. The IAAF has subsequently led the sports movement worldwide in the development and application of an extensive anti-doping programme involving testing both in and out of competition.
The IAAF Headquarters, which was initially the study of the General Secretary, now consists of two fine buildings - a total of 1200 square metres - in Monaco. The organisation now employs over sixty full-time multi-national professional staff.
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