Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 117, April 2019 | Page 36

SPORT MAN
Says
By
Manfred Seidler
Death of the Middle Distances?
Recently the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced that the 5000m has been dropped from
the Diamond League programme. The longest race will now be a 3000m. This immediately raised a furore with the middle
distance fraternity, as one would expect.
T
he IAAF’s statement said they had consulted
“stakeholders, fans and broadcasters,” and
their findings were that the 5000m eats away
too much of the live television time, and people were
getting bored with the event, hence the motivation
to do away with the event. The 10,000m had already
suffered that fate some years previously.
statements saying they had in fact not been
consulted? Surely you would first speak to the two
most dominant nations of middle distance running
before making such a decision?
Untapped Market
There are a whole host of questions that surround the
IAAF’s statement, and quite frankly, I do not buy their
logic or reasoning. Yes, I am admittedly, unashamedly, a
middle distance fan. I love the attrition of the race, how
the tactics unfold, the surges, the duels that unfold, and
the eye-bulging finishing kicks. Make no mistake, I love
the whole sport of athletics, but I have a special affinity
with the middle and long distance events. So let’s unpack the IAAF’s stance. First and foremost,
the IAAF’s role is to promote and grow the sport.
Given that the bulk of people taking part in the sport
of athletics partake in longer distances, I fail to see
how the IAAF is promoting the sport. Remember,
promoting doesn’t just mean billboards, media and
social media campaigns to achieve visibility, but also
to grow the numbers of those taking part in athletics,
and through that process, help develop the next
generation of top athletes.
By the way, just who was consulted? The Ethiopian
and Kenyan Federations immediately issued So what is athletics? It is made up of track and field
(the glamourous side of the sport), road running (the
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ISSUE 117 APRIL 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
biggest participation side of the sport in both elite
numbers and social numbers), trail running, mountain
running and race walking. Hang on a sec, other than
track and field (with its 26 different events that take
place at the World Championships and Olympics),
that means that the sport of athletics is actually
dominated by, you guessed it, distance events!
Every weekend you see people out running races,
fun runs and parkruns, which surely means you have
the biggest possible market to tap into to create a
fan base? What has the IAAF done to capture that
market? Well, zip, zero, zilch.
Good vs Bad Broadcasting
Now let’s have a look at the broadcasting argument.
I have been watching and covering the sport for 25
years, and over that time I have seen the quality of
the production go one way... downhill, and it’s gone
that way faster than Usain Bolt’s 100m World Record.
“Get the viewer excited and in awe.
You are dealing with thoroughbreds
who are doing something exceptional.”