SPORT MAN
SAYS sport man says by MANFRED SEIDLER
Where to Now for Athletics ?
Is the sport of track and field athletics dying , or does it need only some changes to bring back the crowds and get the sport back to its former glory ? Let ’ s delve a bit deeper into the question .
The curtain came down on the 18th World Athletics Championships on Sunday 24 July , held in Eugene , Oregon , and it was a World Champs of many firsts and many stories . It was the first time the Championships were held in the United States , and the host nation came away with 33 medals , the most won by any nation . A record number of 45 countries were on the medal table , and a record was set in terms of the number of countries who had athletes in the finals . It all sounds good , doesn ’ t it ? But is it ?
While there were more viewers than ever before on television ( 13.7 million ), the World Championships viewing figures were still lower than for last year ’ s United States Olympic Trials at the same venue , and the final day ’ s action was only the fifth-most watched sports programme of the weekend in America .
Veteran Austrian journalist Olaf Brockmann , who has covered every World Championships since their inception in 1983 , lamented that “ When ÖLV sports coordinator Hannes Gruber wanted to follow the marathon at breakfast , instead of the World Championships , a live broadcast of the Tour de France was being broadcasted . In the evening in the sports bars , the World Championships were sometimes visible , but on most screens , there were broadcasts of football .”
Meanwhile , prize money in the sport on a global scale continues to decline , and stadiums are half empty in general – in Eugene , only the last day was sold out , and then only because ticket prices had been drastically reduced . America ’ s Noah Lyles , who
Noah Lyles had mixed feelings about the World Champs in his home country
became the fastest ever American over 200m by winning the gold medal in 19.31 seconds ( the third best ever ) lamented , “ I feel the ball ’ s been dropped a little bit , not going to lie . I feel there could have been way more advertisement on America ’ s side . This is an immaculate meet . This is by far the best track and field meet that America has had in years . And I ’ m watching these immaculate performances , and I ’ m like , ‘ The crowd is here , yes . But gosh darn it , was this not put together well . All the times are happening late at night . I ’ m still barely seeing much presence outside of what NBC is doing .”
In general , media coverage of athletics is scant . If you look at the sports sections of media platforms on the internet , how often do you find “ Athletics ” under “ Other Sports ?” And yet the World Athletics Championships ’ social media platforms have attracted 400,000 new followers , more than seven million engagements , and over 41 million video views , bringing the total following for the International Federation ’ s official social channels to more than 9.1 million across five platforms . There is still huge interest in the sport out there .
Challenges to Overcome
Looking ahead , the European Championships take place in Munich from 15 to 22 August , and you can expect full stadiums and extensive media coverage . So , what is the difference between the World Championships in the USA and the European Championships in Germany ? The sport has an established support base in Europe , not so much in the rest of the world , and most definitely not in the USA , in spite of the host nation ’ s traditional strength in the sport , and incredible medal haul this time round . But even in Europe the numbers are dropping .
This is because the current athletics supporter is ageing , while less and less new fans are coming to watch the sport . This is a global challenge , and one that World Athletics ( WA ) is trying to address by changing things up . The international federation ’ s website has been upgraded , and there are many new projects or initiatives WA is undertaking to raise the profile of the sport . One of these is an interesting move designed to make the sport more attractive for both athletes and spectators , in that WA is going to introduce a repechage format for the 2024 Olympic Games , which will be applied to the events from 200m to 1500m , including hurdles .
In this new format , athletes who do not automatically qualify for the next round by ‘ placing ’ in round one heats , will have a second chance to qualify for the semi-finals by participating in repechage heats . This will replace the current system of ‘ fastest loser ’ athletes advancing thanks to fastest times ( q ) outside of the top placings in the first-round heats ( Q ). These events will now have four rounds – round one , repechage round , semi-finals and the final , with schedules varying according to the specific nature of each event . Most importantly , the new format means that every athlete competing in events with a repechage round will have at least two races at the Olympic Games .
In the meantime , the sport is still losing athletes , contributing to its downward spiral . One example is America ’ s Devon Allen , who is the third-fastest ever over the 110m hurdles and was a big favourite to win the World Title in Eugene – a false start cost him the chance . Before the World Champs , he had already signed a three-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles to go play American Football . Allen is a three-time
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