I bumped into athletics star and former Sports Technology Awards (now Smarter Sports Awards) judge and presenter, Dai Greene, last week. We talked about track and field’s current struggles and he landed a thought that stopped me short: T&F needs to ditch The Olympics as its four-year glory moment, build through more events and make the World Championships its pinnacle event.
Initially, I clutched my pearls and shuddered. But Dai has a point.
The Olympics are magnificent – a sweet shop of sporting excellence on which greedy sports fans can feast. But it’s also a black hole. Every four years athletics is the star of the show, achieving global adoration, only to disappear faster than the Olympic flame at the closing ceremony. It’s a moment, not a movement.
This summer I watched meet after meet, enduring some of the most chaotic sports broadcasting imaginable. I know it’s not easy. With a myriad of disciplines (full count below but in the meantime, how many do you think there are?) T&F is the equivalent of five horse races starting simultaneously. But the endless camera cuts between running, jumping and throwing are maddening. It’s not engaging. It’s not inspiring. It’s supercharged channel surfing.
Then there was the Athlos Grand Prix in New York, staged by Alexis Ohanian. Tiffany trophies. Big prize money. Packed stands buzzing with celebrities and serious star power, courtesy of Mrs. Ohanian. The presentation was simple, elegant, electric. It was proof of what happens when the sport is staged by people excited by its future, not intent on protecting its past.
The Olympics will always be a colossal moment in the calendar, but maybe, just maybe, it shouldn’t be the moment. Give The Games elements which keep it special – like the brilliant mixed relay – but let the sport own its spotlight, grow on its own terms, and generate the revenues it deserves.
Running, jump and throwing are the first sports of humanity. They’ve the right to stage their own show with vision and verve. With the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on the horizon, the sport has a golden opportunity to start that transition. The question isn’t whether it can. It’s whether it’s brave enough to try.
How many disciplines were you able to name? Here they all are…
Sprint & Middle Distance: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m
Long Distance: 5000m, 10,000m
Hurdles & Steeplechase: 110m hurdles (men) / 100m hurdles (women), 400m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase
Jumps: High jump, Pole vault, Long jump, Triple jump
Throws: Shot put, Discus, Hammer throw, Javelin
Combined Events: Decathlon (men), Heptathlon (women)
Relays: 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, Mixed 4x400m relay (increasingly standard at global meets)
Total: Men: 24 events (including decathlon), Women: 23 events (including heptathlon), Plus 1 mixed relay, now common at World Championships and Olympics.
48 individual + 1 mixed event = 49 disciplines, depending on how you count.
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