From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Sep 16 2009 - 08:41:02 EDT
September 15, 2009
Africa Fears Changes Are Bad News
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:43 p.m. ET
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyans and Ethiopians dominated the distance races at
the last World Athletics Final at the weekend but Africans fear they are in
danger of becoming irrelevant in the sport despite the depth of their
talent.
Changes to the athletics calendar, which the ruling body say will make the
sport more attractive, have not been well received on the world's poorest
continent.
Under the new plan, the World Cross Country Championships are being turned
from an annual event into a biennial one. Television sponsors had lost
interest in the event because it was always won by Kenyan or Ethiopian
runners, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President
Lamine Diack said.
"The World Cross Country championships have become not only an African
affair but an East African affair, and these days you don't even get
athletes from West Africa competing," Diack told Kenya's Daily Nation last
month.
The senior men's team races at the championships have been won by Ethiopia
or Kenya every year since 1981. On the women's side, only Portugal, in 1994,
have interrupted an African run of victories going back 18 years.
Former champion Paul Tergat said the decision was unfair.
"This is contrary to the universal appeal of sport as a unifying factor, as
a forum for athletes from all over the whole world to showcase their talent,
regardless of race, religion or status," Tergat, who won the men's senior
title between 1985 and 1989, told Reuters.
"Giving such a reason for making such an unpopular decision is not fair to
African athletes whose only fault is to work hard to win those titles. That
is killing the spirit of sport."
The World Athletics Finals -- held last weekend over two days in the Greek
city of Thessaloniki -- are being replaced under a new format that has
created a Diamond League to be held in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Africa will not host any events.
GLOBAL APPEAL
Next year, the series finals will be split over two weekends with half the
events being contested in Zurich and half in Brussels.
Thessaloniki was a triumph for African runners who won every distance event.
Of the 12 qualifiers in the men's 5,000-metres final, nine were Kenyans and
three, including winner Imane Merga, were from Ethiopia.
The World Cup, a competition between continents, has been redesigned to
merge Asia with Oceania as one team and North, Central and South America as
another team. Africa and Europe are the only continents which will compete
independently.
Pierre Weiss, general secretary of IAAF, said the changes would enhance the
global appeal of athletics.
"This new (Diamond) League replaces the Golden League by meeting a strategic
goal of the IAAF, notably enhancing the worldwide appeal of athletics, by
going outside Europe."
League events will be held, from May to August, in Doha, Shanghai, Oslo,
Rome, New York, Eugene, Lausanne, Gateshead, Paris, Monaco, Stockholm and
London.
"With the new (World Cup) structure we hope to achieve a more competitive
format. Merging Asia with Oceania is also to strengthen the participation of
both continents," said Weiss.
Kenyan IAAF Council member Isaiah Kiplagat said Africa needed to take a hard
look at the future of its athletes and draw up a strategic plan to deal with
the changes in the sport.
"Television sponsorship is becoming more Euro-centric, hence the change of
World Cross Country Championships from an annual to biennial event," said
Kiplagat. "Events that are popular in Africa like steeplechase don't feature
in the money circuit programme as often as the sprints and field events.
SPECTACULAR SPORT
"We used to have IAAF Cross Challenge series where cross country runners
accrued points towards winning grand prizes. Now the World Cross Country has
become biennial. It could go altogether because many delegates think it was
a mockery of competition and its winners would easily be predicted."
He said it was not the fault of Africans that they dominated cross-country,
just proof of their talent.
Tergat called for more appreciation of cross-country running.
"This is the sport where one tackles hills, mud, obstacles and virtually
everything. We thought it could be included in the Olympic Games programme
soon," the 40-year-old Kenyan said.
"Cross-country is one of the most spectacular sports. Track and road runners
launch their careers there. The reasons given are not in the best interest
of sports."
Dube Jillo, technical director of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation, agreed
and said he felt "the utter disappointment of not just Ethiopia but the
entire eastern African region."
"We're not happy at all. This will affect our athletes seriously. We are
very disappointed by the IAAF because World Cross Country Championships is
one of the most important events for our runners," Jillo said by telephone
from Addis Ababa.
Kiplagat said that for Africa to remain relevant in athletics, its people
needed to make the sport as lucrative as it was elsewhere.
"With big television companies like (South Africa's) Supersport, our own
companies must appreciate the value of Africa's great potential and invest
in the sport," he said.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
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