Andreas Brugger, organiser of the famed Weltklasse athletics meeting in Zurich, has died at the age of 91 ©Weltklasse

Andreas Brugger, for almost 30 years the organiser of the famed Weltklasse athletics meeting in Zurich, at the age of 91.

Originally an insurance agent, Brugger was the 1955 Swiss shot put champion and was a coach at a Zurich athletics club before moving into meeting organisation.

Under him, the Weltklasse meeting became one of the world’s most illustrious one-day meetings and 19 world records were set during his tenure as meeting organiser from 1973 until 2000. 

The meeting was part of the Golden Four series that was inaugurated in 1993 which, in turn, evolved into the Golden League in 1998 and then the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League in 2010. 

Brugger was also founder and first President of Euromeetings, the association of European one-day track meets, founded in 1979. 

Brugger was recognised with various awards, including the Order of the International Olympic Committee and last month was awarded the President's Award at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2018 to honour his life-long commitment to athletics.

"Andreas is a man who has had a profound impact on our sport," IAAF President Sebastian Coe, who set world records for the 1500 metres in 1979 and mile in 1981 in Zurich, said. 

"He was politically astute, commercially very, very savvy, and turned a regional athletics meet into the premiere grand prix meet of its era."

IAAF President Sebastian Coe set two world records at meetings in Zurich organised by Andreas Brugger, including the mile in 1981 - a total of 19 were set between 1973 and 2000 ©Getty Images
IAAF President Sebastian Coe set two world records at meetings in Zurich organised by Andreas Brugger, including the mile in 1981 - a total of 19 were set between 1973 and 2000 ©Getty Images

Coe added: "For him it wasn't about haute couture running up against politics, 

"it wasn't about ticket sales. 

"His first and only consideration was the athletes."

Coe's tribute to Brugger, who died on December 27, was echoed by European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.

"The death of Res - as he was widely known - has touched me deeply,” Hansen said. 

"He was a close friend but also a visionary who did so much to modernise athletics by bringing in sponsors and being at the forefront of the introduction of professionalism to our sport.

"Andreas took the initiative to form the Golden Four, which is still probably the best meeting series ever seen in athletics. 

"We then worked closely together to establish the Golden Four and then the Golden League when I was the director of the Bislett Games and kept in regularly contact after he retired in 2000. Athletics is much poorer without him."