The IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow have just finished and were a roaring success. I should know, I was sat in the Stadium (row 24, just behind the pole vault and high jump) every morning and every night: from Bolt to Isinbayeva, to Holzdeppa and Bondarenko, Ohurougu and Mo Farah and every second of it was brilliant.
However, you wouldn’t think so reading the BBC website BBC Sport - World Athletics 2013 review. Instead of focussing on the action and some of the classic performances, they moaned relentlessly about empty seats. The Luzhniki stadium was packed from Isinbayeva’s pole vault competition onwards. A couple of morning sessions were relatively empty, it’s true to say, but if you look back that’s been true of every Athletics World Champs since inception. At least the Russian crowd knew what they were looking at, in Daegu South Korea, they would have cheered a dancing rabbit. The BBC needs to move on from London 2012. It was an Olympic Games, which was undoubtedly special but the Olympics can’t be compared with the Athletics world champs. If the Athletics Worlds had been held in London there would have been empty morning sessions too. It is just a symptom of the profile of the sport.
The BBC needs to refresh its own thinking on the sport in general. I am fed up with the contaminated supplement excuse repeatedly used for the freak show that is the sprints. The Jamaican team needs heavily criticised and investigated before they bring the sport as a whole into question again. Our pundits turn a blind eye to abnormalities in performance and duck the chance to ask the right questions of the right people. I, for one, am glad that more people turned out to watch the pole vault than the mens 100m final. Isinbayeva may be some what out of date in her views on sexually equality and gender politics but she’s unlikely to relay on high levels of blood spinning, human growth hormone and other chemical support programmes. People need to believe what they are seeing, even if this means slowing down.
The elephant in the room aside, there were some fantastic performances. On Friday night the Russian ladies 400m x 4 team ran down the Americans to win the relay. It was the best relay leg I have ever seen, and the loudest crowd I’ve ever participated in. Teddy Tamhgo’s triple jump on Sunday at 18.04m was the longest for 17 years. The German Raphael Holzsdeppe, a marketing dream if every there was one, shocked the French supporters by beating the favourite Renaund Lavillenie to win the Pole Vault and Robert Harting’s discus was equally dramatic. Bondarenko of the Ukraine attempted in world record in the high jump on Thursday night: he put his finger to his lips to silence the 50,000 spectators and jumped in complete silence, you could have heard a pin drop, but instead we all heard the bar drop. He didn’t make it, but a great show nonetheless.
The Ukrainian supporters deserve a mention, they block booked themselves hundreds of seats and turned up day after day in matching t-shirts in their countries colours. They cheered relentlessly and their athletes did incredibly well. On Sunday they unveiled a huge flag in the crowd saying ‘Thank You Russia’.
The British were as expected. For too long a few individuals have masked a very weak team. Mo Farah of course delivered in the 5000m and 10,000m, his last 600m in each make him largely unstoppable. Sooner or later though, someone will learn to run against him. Christine Ohurougu blasted through the last 50m of her 400m to win by a vest against Amantle Montsho. She also took the Brits to a 400m bronze in the relay. Medals also came from Tiffany Porter in the sprint hurdles, the womens’ sprint relay and the mens’ 400m relay. Jessica Ennis-Hill wasn’t there but there were some good performances from Robbie Grabatz, Katrina Johnstone-Thomson and Adam Gemelli. None of this makes up for the fact that we had absolutely no one in any of the throwing events with the exception of Sophie Hitchin in the women’s hammer qualifying competition. Truly dismal. Neither did we have a single long or triple jumper in the men’s or a competitor in the women’s distances races or high jump. Surely with the 2012 funding and years of lottery funding we should be in better shape.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning the strange curse of the Sportivna Tunnel. The Moscow Metro Sportivna station is only a short walk through the historic Olympic Park. The tracks are deep underground and the tunnels and escalators have advertising hoardings all the way up. Each one of the Nike-sponsored Russian athletes featured were expected to do well: Uhkov and Chicherova in the High Jump, Klishina in the Long Jump and Savinova in the 800m. All of them failed to live up to expectation.
I could go on for ever, but it was a brilliant week of track and field, the hosts topped the medal table and some of the performances were out of the top drawer. Usain Bolt apparently does not agree, in his humble opinion the championships only merits a 7 out o 10.. Thankfully this doesn’t matter, the sport will be better off without him in the long run. The sooner we get there, the better.
However, you wouldn’t think so reading the BBC website BBC Sport - World Athletics 2013 review. Instead of focussing on the action and some of the classic performances, they moaned relentlessly about empty seats. The Luzhniki stadium was packed from Isinbayeva’s pole vault competition onwards. A couple of morning sessions were relatively empty, it’s true to say, but if you look back that’s been true of every Athletics World Champs since inception. At least the Russian crowd knew what they were looking at, in Daegu South Korea, they would have cheered a dancing rabbit. The BBC needs to move on from London 2012. It was an Olympic Games, which was undoubtedly special but the Olympics can’t be compared with the Athletics world champs. If the Athletics Worlds had been held in London there would have been empty morning sessions too. It is just a symptom of the profile of the sport.
The BBC needs to refresh its own thinking on the sport in general. I am fed up with the contaminated supplement excuse repeatedly used for the freak show that is the sprints. The Jamaican team needs heavily criticised and investigated before they bring the sport as a whole into question again. Our pundits turn a blind eye to abnormalities in performance and duck the chance to ask the right questions of the right people. I, for one, am glad that more people turned out to watch the pole vault than the mens 100m final. Isinbayeva may be some what out of date in her views on sexually equality and gender politics but she’s unlikely to relay on high levels of blood spinning, human growth hormone and other chemical support programmes. People need to believe what they are seeing, even if this means slowing down.
The elephant in the room aside, there were some fantastic performances. On Friday night the Russian ladies 400m x 4 team ran down the Americans to win the relay. It was the best relay leg I have ever seen, and the loudest crowd I’ve ever participated in. Teddy Tamhgo’s triple jump on Sunday at 18.04m was the longest for 17 years. The German Raphael Holzsdeppe, a marketing dream if every there was one, shocked the French supporters by beating the favourite Renaund Lavillenie to win the Pole Vault and Robert Harting’s discus was equally dramatic. Bondarenko of the Ukraine attempted in world record in the high jump on Thursday night: he put his finger to his lips to silence the 50,000 spectators and jumped in complete silence, you could have heard a pin drop, but instead we all heard the bar drop. He didn’t make it, but a great show nonetheless.
The Ukrainian supporters deserve a mention, they block booked themselves hundreds of seats and turned up day after day in matching t-shirts in their countries colours. They cheered relentlessly and their athletes did incredibly well. On Sunday they unveiled a huge flag in the crowd saying ‘Thank You Russia’.
The British were as expected. For too long a few individuals have masked a very weak team. Mo Farah of course delivered in the 5000m and 10,000m, his last 600m in each make him largely unstoppable. Sooner or later though, someone will learn to run against him. Christine Ohurougu blasted through the last 50m of her 400m to win by a vest against Amantle Montsho. She also took the Brits to a 400m bronze in the relay. Medals also came from Tiffany Porter in the sprint hurdles, the womens’ sprint relay and the mens’ 400m relay. Jessica Ennis-Hill wasn’t there but there were some good performances from Robbie Grabatz, Katrina Johnstone-Thomson and Adam Gemelli. None of this makes up for the fact that we had absolutely no one in any of the throwing events with the exception of Sophie Hitchin in the women’s hammer qualifying competition. Truly dismal. Neither did we have a single long or triple jumper in the men’s or a competitor in the women’s distances races or high jump. Surely with the 2012 funding and years of lottery funding we should be in better shape.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning the strange curse of the Sportivna Tunnel. The Moscow Metro Sportivna station is only a short walk through the historic Olympic Park. The tracks are deep underground and the tunnels and escalators have advertising hoardings all the way up. Each one of the Nike-sponsored Russian athletes featured were expected to do well: Uhkov and Chicherova in the High Jump, Klishina in the Long Jump and Savinova in the 800m. All of them failed to live up to expectation.
I could go on for ever, but it was a brilliant week of track and field, the hosts topped the medal table and some of the performances were out of the top drawer. Usain Bolt apparently does not agree, in his humble opinion the championships only merits a 7 out o 10.. Thankfully this doesn’t matter, the sport will be better off without him in the long run. The sooner we get there, the better.