ISTAF Berlin - History - The first ever festival to be held in a stadium took place on 3rd July 1921.
ISTAF in the Olympic stadium ©ISTAF Berlin
The Berlin International Stadium Festival (ISTAF) is Germany's oldest and best-known athletics meeting and one of the most popular and most successful sporting events in Germany.
The first ever festival to be held in a stadium took place on 3rd July 1921 in the Grunewaldstadion, watched by 20.000 spectators.
Co-organisers were three Berlin sports clubs, BSC, SCC and the Poseidon Swimming Club.
ISTAF was founded on 23rd March 1937, the date of the decision by three Berlin clubs - Berliner Sport-Club (BSC), Deutsche Sport-Club (DSC, later OSC) and Sport-Club Charlottenburg (SCC) - to host future international sport festivals jointly under the Internationales Stadionfest name.
On 1st August 1937, buoyed by the Olympic Games in Berlin the previous year, the ISTAF began its illustrious career.
The 69th ISTAF will be held on 22nd August 2010.
Further information on ISTAF is available on www.istaf.de.
