Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 55

Ruswahl (fifth in the long jump), Akani Simbine (fourth
in the 100m), Stephen Mokoka (fifth in the marathon),
and the fifth-placed 4x100m relay team. Again, if
allowance is made for Wayde’s injury and Caster’s
forced removal in Team SA’s London points haul, then
we would drop to 23 points and 20 th position, which
would exactly match our Doha position.
Women’s marathon gold medallist
Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya
The SA team also had a number of first-timers at the
World Championships, but this time there appeared
to be a different attitude. Go back a handful of years
and there were many times that athletes appeared
to come to the world events already armed with
stock quotes to account for their first-round exit. This
was not the case in Doha. The mixed zone would
bear witness to genuine emotional distress in many
of the first-time exits, but even more importantly,
there were a number of debutants and supposed
also-ran athletes who went a round beyond what
could reasonably be expected, based on their PB and
season best (SB) times. Of course, this has also to be
compared with the performances of the athletes from
other countries.
World Class Action
The standard of competition in Doha was exceptional,
despite ill-informed early criticism from many
who were not present. It’s true that there were
fewer outstanding super performers going into the
Championships, so the hype and expectations of
superstars was missing – and in South Africa itself,
the early rounds of the Rugby World Cup did nothing
to assist the promotion or focus on athletes – but
that said, Doha produced an outstanding level of
performances across all disciplines.
The depth of competition, and head-to-head
competition, was perhaps richer than many previous
champs, and there were many highlights to focus on,
including:
• 18-year-old Ukrainian high jumper Yaraslava
Mahuchikn broke the world junior record twice,
jumping 2.02m and then 2.04m, and still settled
for silver behind Mariya Latiskene (also 2.04m).
• Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech’s gun to tape
8:57.84 in the 3000m steeplechase was not only
a championship record, but pulled nine others
to three national records, 3 PB’s and 3 SB’s, out
of 14 athletes.
• The men’s 4x100m relay saw SA set an African
record in the heats, and then finish fifth in the
final, just 0.08 seconds off repeating that new
mark – but ahead of them were three continental
records set by other teams!
• Hellen Obiri of Kenya set a new championship
record, 14:26.72, in the 5000m, and only two of
the top 14 athletes failed to set PB’s!
• American Donovan Brazier won the 800m
in 1:42.34, breaking the 32-year-old
championships record as well as the 34-year-old
American record.
• Never before had all shot-put qualifiers had to
go over the automatic qualifying mark to make
the final.
• For the first time, a 5.70m pole vault failed to
qualify for the final.
• A championship record of 3:51.95 by
Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan in the women’s
1500m is the sixth-fastest ever – or second-
fastest, if dubious Chinese marks are excluded.
• The women’s 400m produced not only the
third-fastest all-time performance, 48.14 by
Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain), but she became the
first World Youth Champion to win the senior
championship. The depth of performance in this
event was amongst the best ever.
• Even in the long distance, the performances
were exceptional, with Kenya’s Joshua
Cheptegui running the world lead in the
10,000m and pulling six athletes under 27
minutes.
These were just a handful of the outstanding
performance in Doha, and when so many
events are providing thrilling edge-of-seat
viewing, and multiple championships records
are set, the negativity surrounding this meet is
rightly recognised as ‘fake news.’ In fact, many
aficionados of the sport were of the opinion that
Doha produced the greatest competitive World
Championships of recent years!
Unfounded Criticism
The early criticism around the Doha conditions was, in
fact, misplaced, and in my opinion a lane or place in
the Doha Diamond League meet is going to become
one of the most sought after in coming years. The
hot, humid external conditions forced the stadium to
be air-conditioned for the World Championships – the
same will apply for the 2020 FIFA World Cup – and as
such, the conditions are now predictable, adjustable
and ideal. This is such an advantage to any athlete
trying to improve, that I predict this league event will
become the one to do when looking for Olympic or
World Championship qualification, especially if the
Diamond League meet is moved from the first slot to
later in the series.
Of course, the other major criticism came in the early
days of the Championships, when the stadium was
‘empty.’ Again, the direct comparison was being made
with London 2017, where crowds filled every session.
This is hardly a fair comparison, however, given that
the greater London area has a population of 67 Million
to Qatar’s 2.8 million (of which just 15% are nationals
and the remainder are immigrant workers). In fact, the
population of Doha is only 800,000 in total, so filling a
40,000-seat stadium would be a challenge, let alone
doing so night after night.
Furthermore, the late evening programme, with its
hour ‘break,’ was hardly ideal for local working hours
and spectating, as it was designed around the hours
to obtain the major TV and on-line viewing hours
around the world. Also, soccer and basketball are
the primary sports in Qatar, with athletics way down
the pecking order, and it took time for the event to
become desirable to the locals.
This is not the first time such things have happened
around the world. In South Africa, schools were
bussed in for many of the less popular Soccer World
Cup matches, and African Cup athletics had the same
in Johannesburg. In Beijing, the same was in place for
many 2008 Olympic events. The use of schoolchildren
in Doha was impractical, though, with the evening/
night sessions, but it seemed that perhaps defence
force/police, etc were being given that opportunity
after the first couple of nights.
Local Attraction
However, the greatest attraction for Doha residents
were the local competitors such as Abderrahman
Samba in the 400m hurdles (who won the bronze
medal), and 2017 high jump World Champion Mutaz
Essa Barshim. In fact, the stadium was over-filled
when Barshim successfully defended his World
Championship title – they not only had to roll back
the branding flags on the seating area to open more
seats, but also allowed for sitting on the steps in the
VIP area! The local participation had brought out all
those who had been given invites, and together with
the bussed in regiments, the stadium capacity was
reached and passed.
These two local medallists not only provided a full
stadium, but also activated a bigger regional interest
in athletics. Every news bulletin, paper and person
was suddenly talking about the championships, and
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