# World Athletics new logo (2019)

> World Athletics launched a new logo in Jun 2019. Jun 2019 (rollout Oct 2019): IAAF renamed World Athletics; heavy black italic "IAAF Athletics" wordmark replaced by a gradient W/A track-sweep mark with World Athletics wordmark.

## Key facts

- Brand: World Athletics
- Launched: Jun 2019
- What changed: Jun 2019 (rollout Oct 2019): IAAF renamed World Athletics; heavy black italic "IAAF Athletics" wordmark replaced by a gradient W/A track-sweep mark with World Athletics wordmark.
- Why: The IAAF became World Athletics to give a modern, more positive face to the sport after years of governance reform.
- Industry: Sport
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos/world-athletics-2019/before.svg (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/world-athletics-2019/after.svg (after)

## The rebrand, explained

The International Association of Athletics Federations had carried its initials for more than a century. Chief executive Jon Ridgeon said they meant little to anyone outside the sport. The name change also served a reputational purpose: the council presented it as building on four years of restructuring and governance reform, giving a modern, more positive face to the sport. The timing was pointed: the same meeting extended, for the eleventh time, the suspension of Russia's federation imposed in November 2015 over doping.

The rebrand began in January 2018, when five global brand and marketing agencies were invited to answer the brief. An internal team shortlisted designs, which went out for consultation with member federations, partners, athletes and broadcasters before council approved the result in Monaco on 8 June 2019. President Sebastian Coe said he hoped the brand would engage a new generation of young people and come alive in the digital world while putting the athletes at the centre.

The mark combines the W of World, read as arms raised in victory, and the A of Athletics, an athlete focused on the road ahead, under an arc for the whole athletics community. The sweep of a running track rises upward to suggest pushing beyond limits, and patterns are meant to capture running, jumping, throwing and walking. Ridgeon said the symbol could stand alone and work with partners and events.

Rollout started in October 2019, after the Doha World Championships and the congress vote to change the legal name.

Athletics Weekly reported the unveiling by Seb Coe in Monaco, alongside the 217th Council meeting that also kept Russia suspended. Chief executive Jon Ridgeon was blunt about the old name: IAAF had existed for more than 100 years but meant little to anyone outside the sport. The mark combines a W read as an athlete's arms raised in victory, an A for focus on the road ahead, and an arc for the community coming together. Coe hoped it would reach a new generation and come alive digitally. Three metaphors in one monogram is a lot, but the name change alone was overdue.

The name change was overdue and smart; nobody outside athletics knew what IAAF meant. The logo is busier than it needs to be, stacking a monogram, an arc and a track into one mark, and the explanatory symbolism is the usual sports-body checklist. But it reads cleanly at small sizes, which the old italic wordmark never did.

In short: A better name than logo.

## Sources

- https://worldathletics.org/news/press-release/iaaf-unveils-new-name-and-logo
- https://athleticsweekly.com/news/iaaf-unveils-new-world-athletics-brand-1039923034/
- https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/2-8-december-2019/the-10-biggest-rebrands-and-logo-designs-of-2019/

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "World Athletics new logo (2019)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/world-athletics-2019/, last updated 2026-10-20.