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Kishan Gill
Junior Varsity
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Posts: 236
Location: London, UK
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 Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 11:40 am Post subject: Should wc be shortened? |
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Former two time 1500m olympic champion sebastian coe who has just been elected to the IAAF council suggests that the present 10 day schedule
of the wc often with gaps in the programme does not help to further the appeal of the sport.
Coe also mentioned that very little is done by national governing bodies to promote the sporting personalities. 'hicham el guerrouj is arguably the best middle-distance runner we have ever had' Coe said.'i doubt whether there are many kids in my kids class who would be able to picture him.'
'You would not have said that 20 years back about Carl Lewis. We have to develop the characters' coe added.
He also cited holes appearing in the calender, with meetings like Nice and Cologne no longer being held and a lack of early season meets in europe.
I suppose coe is tying to point out that unless their is non-stop action in the wc , they tend to drag on which does not help to capture the interest of the younger audience .
Carl lewis in his heyday suggested that the major champs should only allow athletes who have qualified by the higher category A standards to compete in order to reduce the duration and make the championships more interesting. He had a valid point as 99.9% of the finalists are those who have reached the higher standards, so why dont we cut to the chase and field only these athletes.
I don't think this denies an opportunity to lesser athletes as they still have their national and continental championships to develop their potential.
As for the lack of personalities, this may be due to the fact that they do not come very often. Most youngsters today will know who ali and tyson are but will be unable to name the current heavyweight champion. Personalities like lewis only pop up know and then. It does help to win four olympic golds in a single games and win by silly margins and not only be the fastest sprinter but also the best jumper to boot. |
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Dan
Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999
Posts: 9334
Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | 'i doubt whether there are many kids in my kids class who would be able to picture him.' |
Or pronounce his name... 
Mostly good points raised. I agree that gaps need to be removed from the meet calendar and the champs schedules tightened up, but limiting field sizes is not the answer, in my opinion. Maybe raise the standards, but ease the 3 per country restriction. Overall field size would probably remain about the same, but the level of competition would increase dramatically.
Dan
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Indeurr
Olympic Medalist
Joined: 08 Aug 2001
Posts: 1558
Location: Elizabeth, NJ, 07202
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Kishan Gill
Junior Varsity
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Posts: 236
Location: London, UK
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 2:56 am Post subject: |
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| I am for anything that just gets the worlds best together. The championships could be shortened to just three or four days by getting rid of first rounds and in some cases where the event lacks depth by eliminating the quarters. |
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Dan
Chief Pontificator
Joined: 22 Mar 1999
Posts: 9334
Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:22 am Post subject: |
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The madness continues. Krummenacker's prelims heat of the 800 has two guys who haven't run the 800 at all this year and have listed PR's of 1:58 and 1:55. But wait, Kipketer's got a 2:08 tool in his heat! What a joke.
Dan
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