Russia still banned, but ‘things change’, says World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe
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World Athletics president Sebastian Coe addressed the need to keep his sport relevant to the next generation of fans.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – The Olympic door for Russian track and field athletes remains firmly shut,
Earlier in December, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris 2024 Games can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems, changing the position of their original blanket ban following the invasion of Ukraine.
That followed a recommendation in March that put the onus on international sports federations to decide, with most of them moving to allow the two countries’ athletes to return.
Athletics, the Games’ biggest and most popular sport, immediately responded by saying it would keep its ban in place, but Coe seemed less certain when speaking to journalists on Dec 18.
“There is no change,” he said. “The most important thing is the autonomy and independence of international federations to make these judgments. We made a judgment which we believe was in the best interest of our sport.
“Do I see anything changing in the foreseeable future? I don’t know. The world changes every five minutes, the situation could change. We do have a working group that is monitoring the situation within the sport and it will advise and guide the (policymaking) council on what circumstances might need to exist for any exclusion to be lifted.”
The Olympics will be sandwiched between three editions of the world championships (2022, 2023 and 2025) and Coe said his sport was in a great place after a “stupendous” year.
“I can’t remember a season that has delivered more high-quality performances across a broader bandwidth of disciplines,” he said. “I think Budapest (2023) was the best world championships we’ve ever had and there were seven world records in an outstanding season.”
However, he also again addressed the need to keep his sport relevant to the next generation of fans, pointing to the upcoming Netflix series that followed the leading contenders in the men and women's 100 metres in 2023.
At the other end of the excitement scale, he identified the “horizontal jumps” – long jump and triple jump – as something that can be improved to give a better spectator experience.
“At the world championships we did a lot of research, testing on our fans in the stadium and watching on TV and we even had sort of pulse rate monitors,” Coe said. “So we know a lot more about what excites them and what leaves them a little flat on occasions.
“That doesn’t mean we are going to say there’s no place for those things in our sport, but we feel that there is work we can do to make them more attractive.”
Turning his focus back on the Paris Olympics, the athletics chief also commented that tickets for the global showpiece are “expensive” and pleaded for the families of athletes to be given priority by organisers.
He was concerned athletes’ families could miss out on the greatest moment of their careers.
“It is my responsibility to make sure our sport is delivered in as good an environment as possible and that the French organising committee do everything they can to fill those stadiums even though the ticket prices are, as we know, expensive,” Coe said.
“Our concern will always be that we want fans in the stadiums watching the events that are at affordable prices and that allow us to grow our sport, and particularly when it comes to the athletes themselves and their families.
“It think it is important that families are considered when those athletes, in whichever sport, get to a major championships.”
The most expensive tickets currently available for the athletics sessions at the Olympics are priced at €980 (S$1,430), though tickets for other sessions are available for €90. REUTERS, AFP
