Seb Coe, photo by Getty Images for IAAF
Coe: Need for more Usain Bolts
CARDIFF (GBR): IAAF President Seb Coe suggests the track and field season can be extended and the World Championships can be shortened in order to make changes to the sport, according to an interview with BBC. Informs SI.com. “There isn’t enough athletics. That’s the problem. We kid ourselves but there isn’t enough athletics,” Coe told BBC. “We go from September through May, where frankly there’s not a lot to be talking about or writing about We have to remedy that. We’ve got to look at how we can extend the season probably into climates where you can compete. We’ve got to develop those markets. We’ve got to make sure that the athletes go head-to-head much more often than they do. When you have agents and managers at the beginning of the season saying, “Well you know, our guy is just going to have a quiet year this year.’ That’s a bit like Barcelona selling season tickets and saying, ‘Well Messi may play in one of every four games.’ You don’t do that. We’ve got to find as many Usain Bolts as we can and it’s not a conveyor belt,” Coe said. “We could be having this conversation in an American bar amongst boxing writers in the 70s and saying ‘What on earth is going to happen when Ali goes? After Ali there’s Hagler, Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. They do come through. Bolt is a genius. What we need to do within the IAAF is to make sure that people know as much and are excited by the David Rudisha’s and the Valerie Adams’ that come through and are extraordinary athletes. That isn’t going to be easy.” Writes si.com.
