The History of our Meeting

1983
The Centre Athlétique de Genève (CAG) is organising a national meeting which, in addition to athletes from Geneva and Romandie region, welcomes some French athletes (in particular a large delegation from St.-Etienne) and some French and Italian athletes.
1984
Pablo Cassina (CAG) also participates in this 2nd edition, winning the 110m hurdles ahead of Frenchman Daniel Darien.
1987
The General Assembly of the CAG, chaired by Rolf Sauter, calls on its members to strengthen the organising committee of its national meeting "B".
At 27, Pablo Cassina, barely withdrawn from the competition, joins the Steering Committee, made up of Bernard Boujol (president and secretary), Jean-Claude Gal (technical manager), Olivier Tallent (City of Geneva relationship).
1988
The CAG national meeting is renamed AtletiCAGenève, a name made up of Atletica (athletics in Italian) and Geneva and whose graphic layout cleverly highlights the acronym CAG.
Following the recent death of the former emblematic and visionary president of the CAG, Mr. Georges Caillat, AtletiCAGenève from its first edition will also bear his name "Mémorial Georges Caillat".
This first edition saw a strong participation of French-speaking African athletes who were in Olympic preparation training in the region (Thonon) as well as several Swiss-German, French and several foreign athletes.
The excellent results of this edition increase the media coverage of the meeting which, through the many nationalities of the best athletes, is known especially in French-speaking countries.

1989
The second edition attracts many athletes also from the Parisian area, in addition to Grenoble, Lyon, Marseille and Italy (Milan and Liguria). Swiss athletes are also present with several top athletes. Among the excellent international performances including the 5m70 pole vault by the American Earl Bell (ahead of the new US champion Kory Tarpenning in 5.60), the long jump of Emanel Bangué (8.02), the other feat comes from the Swiss Anita Protti who with the new Swiss record in the 400m hurdles qualifies for the Olympic Games (Seoul).
The meeting made people talk about itself thanks to these high-level international results but also thanks to the many personal records obtained in a magical atmosphere which quickly created the legend of the fast track in Geneva.

1990
The big performance will come from the surprise and unexpected participation of the 200m vice-world champion, the young Frenchman Gilles Quéhenervé. He disembarked by TGV at 9:58 pm, without having been able to be announced beforehand since he decided at the very last minute to join the Racing Club de France group. When Pablo Cassina welcomes them at the station he can only telephone the journalist to inform him and whose "nocturnal" article may appear only on the national edition of the Tribune de Genève and not on the local edition, which was already under press.
Gilles Quéhenervé comes to do a big 200m.
In a few minutes it is a rain of performances of which the most incredible is without doubt that of the 200m. Gilles Quéhenervé achieves 20 "21, 6th world performance of the year!
The meeting is talked about everywhere. The Italian press even allows itself to doubt. The very famous Gazzetta dello Sport allows itself to speculate on the length of the track or the wind! But this only attracts even more Italian athletes, as we will see since 1990.
It was on this day that the idea of ​​creating a circuit of international meetings was born, launched by Mr. Jean-Claude Dufloux (from Racing Club de France), Pablo Cassina, Giorgio Ferrando (Celle Ligure, IT) and Noël Levêque (Nivelles, BE)

1991
The 4th AtletiCAGenève - memorial Georges Caillat, is now part of the Europe Athlétisme Promotion (EAP) and as a result, opportunities begin to and from other organising countries, members of the circuit.
The destinies of AtletiCAGenève and that of the EAP circuit will now be closely linked, through their orientation on common values ​​and principles.

1992
The first Steering Committee (Bernard Boujol (president and secretary), Jean-Claude Gal (technical manager), Olivier Tallent (City of Geneva relationship), Pablo Cassina (meeting Director) is partially demissionnary. Jean-Claude Gal becomes President, Elena Portoles-Nickles vice-president, Pablo Cassina meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson, technical manager, Dorienne Bornand secretary, Richard Morath accommodation.

1993
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Elena Portoles-Nickles president, Jean-Claude Gal vice-president, Pablo Cassina meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson, technical manager.

1994
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Valérie Lelong meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson, technical manager.

1995
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Jessica Horner meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson, technical manager.

1996
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson, technical manager.

1995
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Jessica Horner meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager and relation with the CAG.

2003
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Oberson technical manager and volunteers, Walter Zecca Transports, Chantal Freund accommodation.

2005
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Oberson technical manager and volunteers Walter Zecca Transports, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office

2005
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Oberson technical manager and volunteers, Walter Zecca Transports, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office, Emmanuelle Dessebe-Devaud.

2008
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Walter Zecca vice-president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Oberson technical manager and volunteers, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office, Emmanuelle Dessebe-Devaud, Michel Patry.

2014
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Walter Zecca president, Pablo Cassina vice-president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager and volunteers, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office, Emmanuelle Dessebe-Devaud, Michel Patry, Pascal Warpelin, Jean-Noël Pasini.

2016
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Walter Zecca president, Pablo Cassina honorary president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office, Emmanuelle Dessebe-Devaud, Michel Patry, Jean-Noël Pasini media relations, Pascal Warpelin office.

2012
The meeting is n. 32 in the world ranking, one-day invitational meeting.

2017
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Walter Zecca president, Pablo Cassina honorary president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office, Michel Patry, Jean-Noël Pasini volunteers and media relations, Pascal Warpelin office and logistics.

2018
23 January: creation of the Association ATLETICAGENEVE and structural separation from the historical club "CAG". The CAG is designed as priviledged partner in the organisation.
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Walter Zecca, president, Pablo Cassina, vice-president,  Michel Patry, representing the partner club CAG (president of Centre Athlétique de Genève), Pascal Thurnherr  meeting director, Pascal Warpelin logistics and office,  Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sébastien Stevan IT, Rolf Sauter  interim-treasurer, Jean-Noël Pasini volunteers and media relations. Later 3 new members join the committee: Grégory Morel treasurer, Michèle Garlinski merchandising, Sebastien Baud logistics.

2019
AtletiCAGenève is part of European Athletics and receive the Classic permit.
Steering Commmitte is as follows: Walter Zecca president, Pablo Cassina vice-president, Pascal Thurnherr meeting director, Grégory Morel treasurer, Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office, Michel Patry (CAG president) representing the historical club, Jean-Noël Pasini volunteers, Pascal Warpelin logistics and office, Michèle Garlinski merchandising, Sebastien Baud logistics.

2020
AtletiCAGenève is part of European Athletics and World Athletics. The meeting is part of the World Athletics Continental Tour, Bronze permit.
Due to COVID-19 pandemia, the meeting of the 13 June is cancellled.

2021

ATLETICAGENEVE has a new logo and a new website.
Steering Committee is as follows: Walter Zecca president, Pablo Cassina vice-president, Pascal Thurnherr race director, Grégory Morel treasurer, Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager, Chantal Freund accommodation, Sebastien Stevan IT & Office, Michel Patry (CAG president) representing the historical club, Jean-Noël Pasini volunteers, Pascal Warpelin logistics and office, Michèle Garlinski merchandising, Sebastien Baud logistics.
The meeting, thanks to his Competition Score (84271 pts), is ranked overall n. 40 in the world (and 18th in Europe). But from the Results Scores ranking, Geneva is placed 29th in the World (82826 pts) and 3d best meeting in Switzerland !

2022

ATLETICAGENEVE is part of the Swiss Athletics project 2030.

Walter Zecca president, on 18th March 2022 decides to take a temporary step back from athletics, for personal and professional reasons. Mr Sebastien Stevan IT & Office decides to retire definitively to dedicate to his job.

The former president and founder Pablo Cassina (vice-president at that time) then resumes this function of president, named by the committee.
Just after the meeting, M Pascal Warpelin logistics and office, also decides to retire definitely.
Steering Committee is as follows: Pablo Cassina president, Pascal Thurnherr race director, Grégory Morel treasurer, Jean-Daniel Oberson technical manager, Chantal Freund accommodation, Michel Patry (CAG president) representing the historical club, Jean-Noël Pasini volunteers, Michèle Garlinski tasks coordinator, Sebastien Baud logistics.

In order to compensate for the loss of 3 important elements within the committee, a few months before the meeting, a search for volunteers makes it possible to integrate two new people in order to take charge of the management of the competition with the Seltec software: Sophia Koulen and Ivonne Triviño are thus formed, also thank to the support of our Chrono-keeper Alain Hugentobler.
The meeting further improves its performance with a new record of 84,577 points (83,202 in terms of results, and this allows it to rank 4th best meeting in Switzerland).

After the edition, Pablo Cassina launched the "Janus" project with the intention of identifying and structuring all the tasks related to oranization and defining responsibilities and temporal bases.

2023

This edition, due to a longer delay in the application of the Janus project, has the consequence of considerably reducing committee meetings. Without a structure in place and without definition of responsibilities, the president preferred to move forward through discussions and mini-sessions with the people most involved. The Wondermeeting web-software has been improved, allowing for finer overall management in real time.
In fact, the meeting was organized with only one committee session 8 weeks before the meeting and another, a few days before the event.
Despite this and thanks to the various new features put in place (management of the "competition" part by the Seltec team, as well as extraordinary agreements with European Athletics for the production of high quality live-streaming), the meeting managed to further raise the level, obtaining with 84960 points (83570 results score, i.e. the 36th best place in the world and 5th best meeting in Switzerland) or 84960 pts, considering the overall competition score (participation score: 52nd with 1390 pts + Results score 83570) and new record (and also new EAP meeting record).

For professional reasons, treasurer Gregory Morel decides to step down, however ensuring the transition. A young accountant therefore joined the committee: Salomé Metral.
The Janus project therefore sees the light of day at the end of the summer and by redefining the tasks makes it possible to enlarge the committee. Walter Zecca returns to the committee as co-president with Pablo Cassina.

Michèle Garlinski is appointed managing director and Pascal Thurnherr is race director.
Michel Patry, president of the CAG, is named honorary member. He gives up the organization of the VIP aperitif and also, as a retiree, from being the official doctor for the event, but remains a member of the committee.
Sébastien Baud, responsible for installations and material in relation with the Geneva City, is leaving the committee for professional reasons.
Six new members join the committee: Alena Riva, Nicole Curti, Frida Svensson, Salomé Metral, Walid Meliani and François-Pierre Lemer (a field volunteer for years), who is responsible for leading the committee sessions, in particular by ensuring the updating of the "Monday.com" project management software, personalized according to Janus criteria.

2024

Reputation and development of the meeting have strengthened links with the public authorities (City of Geneva) and other institutions to which the meeting belongs (European Athetics, World Athetics, Events for Athletics Promotion, Euromeetings, Swiss Athletics), and in general the federations international and athlete management companies, media and production companies, other suppliers, partners and sponsors.
This also translates into a need for even greater availability because our committee of volunteers must find solutions so that this work can be carried out, most often during the day, therefore during (and to the detriment of) everyone's work.
To meet these often demanding technical requirements and also financial responsibilities, the committee is looking for solutions and of course funds to maintain the sustainability of the flagship event of Geneva track athletics.
For a period of 3 months, Mrs Manèle Selem, an intern in the Bachelor of Sports Management at the Win Sport School in Geneva, joined us from April. Having practiced athletics for 8 years and is passionate about it, she will put - while learning - her skills and her time at the disposal of the organization. It will thus absorb part of the volume of work required to set up the meeting. Welcome Manèle !

Despite the less than ideal weather conditions, the meeting can be considered a success. The public filled the stands and all around the track. The authorities and VIP guests were present at the rich aperitif that was organized under the stands: a hundred guests were able to share the emotions of the competition and also meet the new Geneva star, the new European 200m champion Timothé Mumenthaler.

The end of 2024 also marks the withdrawal of the organising committee of Pablo Cassina, founder of ATLETICAGENEVE. After setting up a new structure and defining organizational standards, he leaves the meeting in excellent reputational conditions and with a healthy financial situation.
He remains in the association in order to focus on the development of other events, primarily the Golden Fly Series Geneva and to continue the development of the EAP circuit, of which he is co-founder and president.
Other members have informed that for professional or personal reasons they can no longer be part of the committee: Salomé Metral, Sophia Koulen and Alena Riva. Thank you to them for their contribution to the success of the meeting.
The ATLETICAGENEVE committee will be chaired by Walter Zecca.

Golden Fly Series Geneva
This city event, officially announced by Mrs. Marie Barbey-Chappuis during ATLETICAGENEVE was able to be organised on September 21 in the city center, in front of the water jet. Under mandate of the City of Geneva, Pablo Cassina appointed director of the organisation, coordinated this first edition with the Sports Department and the Austrian Golden Fly team, in particular Mr Armin Margreiter, CEO. It was a great success, with prestigious athletes like the pole vaulters Angelica Moser, European champion and Holly Bradshaw, 4 times Olympian, who chose this event to bid farewell to competition.
The public responded and was very enthusiastic to be able to follow this event (Pole Vault and Long jump on a mobile track) so closely and in a new setting.

2025

The committee deplores the tragic death of  Chantal Freund, which occurred on January 15, 2025, from Charcot's disease. Committee member and long jump and triple jump coach, graduate of Swiss Olympic and recognised by the whole athletics family.

Mr. Gabriel Vida joins the committee as head of logistics. From March, Ms. Martina Clennon, the new treasurer, and Mr. Eric Sinot, data protection advisor, will follow.
Mrs Anastasiia Sredina, is the new trainee in charge of digital communication & marketing (from CREA Genève, School), between March and the end of July.
Mrs Pauline Durand is the administrative Secretary, From May.