Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 125, December 2019 | Page 25

due to a lack of knowledge how to present the sport.
This is a global issue and has been discussed in a
previous column. Meanwhile, in South Africa back
then, the 5000m and 10,000m races were taken care
of in the ABSA Series, with great success. The PE
meet, in particular, would always ensure a 10,000m
was on the cards, and it was always riveting racing!
WA has no objection to the events that have been
taken out of the 90-minute main programme being
included in the pre-programme, but these won’t be
televised. And therein lies the catch: This will hit a
host of athletes hard, as they make a living off the
sport. No TV time means less sponsorship, and
also less prize money. So is WA not in fact killing
the sport? After all, sponsorship is scarce in today’s
world, so is this really the right way? Even Johan
Blake, the 2009 World 100m Champion, says, “World
Athletics is killing the sport, not growing it. Aren’t they
supposed to be growing it? This is stupid.”
Continental Gold Tour
In order to give the athletes that fall out of the DL
competition an opportunity to still earn ranking points
and money, the WA has introduced a 10-meeting
Continental Gold Athletics Tour. In essence, this is just
a renaming of the IAAF World Athletics Tour. These
events can host the disciplines not on the DL circuit,
but there is a substantial cut in prize money. In the
WA Continental Gold Tour, first prize will be $6000,
compared to the $10,000 in the DL. Look, neither
are earth-shattering – that just shows the massive
challenge the sport is facing in attracting sponsorship
to cover prize money – but still, imagine that you as
an athlete stand to lose $4000 per event you compete
in, if you were to win every time you lined up. That
adds up to whole lot of cash!
Take the USA’s Noah Lyles, for example, who is
undoubtedly the best 200m athlete in the world right
now. Say he races in six 200m events in the year
and wins them all. He would lose out on $24,000 in
prize money alone, never mind endorsements and
sponsorships, which is where most of his income
would be derived from. His contract with Adidas
would be worth a lot more to him were he to race in
the Diamond League, versus the Continental Tour. He
will thus more than likely focus more on the 100m,
US sprinter Noah Lyles
thus depriving the 200m of a hugely influential figure,
which could mean still less focus on the 200m and
inspiration for young 200m sprinters to come through.
So you are effectively reducing the pool of talent, and
thus I feel the old system of alternating the events at
the DL would be far more effective. As for the middle
distance events? Well, educate the TV producers and
commentators, and you will see just how exciting
those events can be!
Achieving Label Status
Road races across the globe chase after WA Labels
– Gold, Silver or Bronze – that raise the status of
the event and should, in theory, give the event more
coverage on a global basis, which means greater
TV viewership and helps in the securing of both
sponsorship and top athletes. Now WA is introducing
a new top level Label, Platinum, which only a select
few races can qualify for. There are of course a whole
host of regulations that need to be fulfilled for Label
status, such as road closures, amount of entries,
amount of countries that can watch the race either
on TV or via Livestreaming, etc. But, it is the cost of
achieving Label status that is a challenge for many
events.
I laud WA for introducing this anti-doping fee, as it
means that a much deeper pool of athletes can be
tested throughout the year, instead of just the top 50
marathon and half marathon athletes in the world,
but is this sustainable? Races in poorer nations will
struggle, including here in SA, and this will have
an impact on the standard of athletes who visit our
shores. In turn, lower international competition will
have an impact on the standard of our athletes.
There has been a definite improvement in standard
in South Africa in recent times, and our list of Label
athletes is growing. On the men’s side, South Africa
currently has one Gold Label athlete (Stephen Mokoka),
three Silver Label athletes (Elroy Gelant, Precious
Mashele, Mbuleli Mathanga), and three Bronze Label
athletes in Desmond Mokgubo, Thabang Mosiako and
Collen Mulaudzi. On the women’s front, Irvette van
Zyl and Glenrose Xaba own Silver Label status, while
Nolene Conrad, Gerda Steyn, Dominique Scott-Efurd
and Kesa Molotsane are Bronze Label athletes.
The higher the label, the better calibre athletes the
event attracts, but you need the budget for it, because
each Label event needs to pay WA a fee to contribute
to anti-doping testing. The higher the Label, the more
an event must pay, so Platinum Label marathons will
pay $66,667 dollars towards anti-doping. Meanwhile,
Gold Label marathons currently need to pay $15,000,
and other label events, i.e. not marathons, pay anti-
doping fees along the following lines: $10,000 for a
Gold Label, $5000 for a Silver Label, and $2500 for
a Bronze Label event – and that’s over and above
the fees paid to individual athletes that need to be
contracted in to fulfil the Label criteria. So this is
becoming a very costly exercise...
Effect on South Africa
For the most part, South Africa will not really be
affected by many of these changes, as it is only really
in the men’s sprints and long jump, and the women’s
800m, that the country has world class athletes who
would be competing regularly in the Diamond League
anyway. However, the big changes in Label status of
road running events will be felt here. Currently, South
Africa has one Gold Label (Cape Town Marathon),
two Silver Label and two Bronze Label events, and at
least one more event looking for a Bronze Label. The
Cape Town Marathon is now targeting Platinum Label
status, and at the current exchange rate, that is an
extra R1 million that needs to be found somewhere, to
cover the higher anti-doping costs.
This is largely due to the international competition
they have been exposed to in the last few years on
home soil through the FNB Run Your City Series,
Sanlam Cape Town Marathon and this year, the Spar
Women’s Challenge. (The Spar races are not Label
events, but do attract international athletes due to the
efforts of the Nedbank Running Club). The bottom line
is that more Label events in SA will be good for our
athletes, but the organisers will feel it in their pockets.
One can therefore only hope that sponsors will see
the bigger picture, and not just the bottom line.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Manfred Seidler is a freelance Olympic sport journalist who has been in the industry
since 1994, in both print media and broadcasting,covering four Olympic Games for SABC Radio, and
producing various athletics shows for the SABC.
Follow him on Twitter: @sportmansa; Facebook: Sport Man SA; Instagram: sportman_sa.
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