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Dan · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2001 3:21 pm Post subject:

I agree with Conway. If the athletes were to say they view the WC's as equal in importance to the Olympics, would we even know about it? In the US, we rarely see an event televised within 8 hours of it taking place. A quote that doesn't fit the billion dollar advertising status quo could easily find itself on the cutting room floor... Conspiracy theories aside, would an athlete even risk alienating the multitude of potential sponsors by downplaying the significance of the Olympics? Point being it's nearly impossible to separate the public perception of the importance and that athletes' goals, short of analyzing their training and talking to them privately.

I always thought it was ludicrous to not have a championship meet every year. The worst is when you have WCs and Oly's in consecutive years (i.e. WC in '95 and '97 and Olympics in '96) followed by no championship meet the next year. It just doesn't make sense to have a non-championship year when nearly every other sport (and every other level of our sport) has a championship that is the pinacle of the season and the primary reason people participate and watch up to that point.

Dan

Conway · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2001 4:44 pm Post subject:

As much as I drool over the thought of an annual "championships" of some sort taking place, I look upon it even more so as a tragedy for the athletes !!! Look at all of the careers that have gone for naught (so to speak) because an ahtlete was hurt or injured during the ONE year when there was an Olympics !!! Or those that have been injured in the years in between Olympics and Worlds since the Worlds have been in existence !!!

Or look at an ElG who at least has has the opportunity of coming back the year after losing the Olympics to prove himself in a championship event - the Worlds .. While he may thirst for Olympic glory I doubt if he woudl give up either of his World golds ...

And the sport has missed many a marketing opportunity ... Could you imagine if there was a championship event in 1973 - after Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson missed running in the Olympic final won by Borzov ?? Can you imagine 1973 with the pre (and ongoing) season hype regarding Borzov/Hart to go with the emergence of Steve Williams (ranked #1 that season)and Don Quarrie (ranked #4) ??? That would have been prime time type fair ...

I think the sport does itself a disservice by NOT having some type of annual event ... And a disservice to its athletes ... The Olympics are for idealism ... A championships should be for sport !!!

Justin · Varsity Joined: 08 Oct 2001 Posts: 312 Location: London

In many ways we do have an annual WC - the Grand Prix series. What many other sports call WC are in fact just the culmination of some sort of series of events.

What the GP also has in common with a 'real' annual WC is that it doesn't have the ludicrous 3-per-country rule. Like Conway, I have always thought that the IAAF misrepresent their bi-annual extravaganza by calling it a WC - it's not, it's actually more of a gathering of national champions, which of course has little in common with getting the very best in the world to compete.

On the OG vs the WC, I find Dan's reasoning a little odd. The argument seems to be that athletes only think the OG are more prestigious than the WC because everyone else tells them it's so. I credit them with being able to decide for themselves where their priorities lie, and I repeat that I have never heard a single athlete say anything other than that the OG are the pinnacle of the sport. They say this in WC years too, indeed many say it right after winning the WC. And they are right - a bi-annual event with 20 years heritage has a long way to go to match a 4-yearly event with over 100 years of history. I think that one look at El G's face in Sydney should confirm that point.

Justin

Conway · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2001 11:50 am Post subject:

Perhaps what is needed is a revision of the Grand Prix final !!! Perhaps a 2 day event with trials and finals ... Top 27 from the series compete in a trials on day one to get to the finalists on day 2 (3 heats, top 3 to make finals) ...

Might make the Final more interesting than it has been AND lend itself to a type of true Annual Championships !!! Might also generaet more interest in the Grand Prix series itself - aside from just a money making trip for the athletes ... Would be easy enough to do and be very beneficial for the sport ...

Conway · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2001 2:17 pm Post subject:

Regarding Dan's assessment of the Olympics and the views held by athletes, I think he is referring less to the actual feelings of the media than he is to the power held by the media ... It is the meida that has made the Olympics the end all of sport !!! The Mecca if you will ... And as a result the athletes must fall in line ... No one gains endorsements based on WC wins or performances ... A nice pat on the back maybe .. Perhaps even an interview or two ... Maybe even a mention on a late night talk show ... But if you want the "gold" (as in major money) you must win the gold (as in Olympics) ... As such athletes know that that is where they truly have to be successful if they really want ot be successful !!!! Smile

Dan · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2001 8:10 pm Post subject:

Conway is correct in his interpretation of what I was saying. Smile

Regarding the Grand Prix Final being considered a championship event, I have a hard time seeing that, at least not without a heavy restructuring of it to the point of being a completely new event... There is no sense of qualifying or any sort of a tournament or season schedule leading up to it. It's basically just the last of a series of main, independent events, and it isn't always even the last event of the year! That seems very unlike a world championship to me.

I have a very hard time with the notion of a Grand Prix Final and World Championship in the same year...

Dan

Conway · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2001 10:16 am Post subject:

I agree with the idea of the Grand PRix Final not being a championhsip event in its current form ... That is why I suggested making changes to it ... I think a 2 day format (so as not to make it too long) could make for a nice event ... Perhaps add in some participation standards (# of competitions one had to participate in, etc) ...

I also agree that it should be discarded in a WC year ... In that case just conduct the Grand Prix meets with no ending Championships .. Finish off the season with the WC !!!

[ This Message was edited by: Conway on 2001-12-06 14:51 ]

Dan · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2001 10:22 am Post subject:

I could definitely get behind an event of that format. Smile

Dan

Conway · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2001 11:12 am Post subject:

Well .. Would be nice to have a true World Championships ... The best against the best .. Eliminate the politics and let the best have at it ... Is not good when you have a WC and the athletes are looking forward to Zurich or Brussells So that medalists can run against so and so who for whatever reason was not at the WC !! Or the Olympics for that matter ... As "great" as the Olympics are they prove nothing as far as the sport is concerned ... Many European meets have as good oand sometimes better fields than the Olympics or WCs !!!!

Dan · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2001 6:25 pm Post subject:

It's funny (in a sad sort of way). When I was younger and watched the Olympics for all of the sports, I enjoyed them tremendously. As t&f has become my primary interest in the Olympics over the years, I've found them less and less enjoyable. Granted, the steadily declining quality in coverage has a great deal to do with it, but I think a lot is lost by t&f making it a championship event that is totally disconnected from the rest of the season (i.e. meaningless outside of advertising and selling newspapers), whereas other sports like basketball treat the Olympics as exactly what they are -- an invitational spectacle.

The difficulty that track faces that does not apply to many other sports is the limited number of quality performances that are possible in any given year. With so many competing interests (IOC, IAAF, national governing bodies, agents, athletes, meet promoters, sponsors... oh yeah, and fans! Wink

), it's hard to envision synchronizing the various efforts into one cohesive season that culminates in a true championship.

Dan

[ This Message was edited by: Dan on 2001-12-07 21:25 ]

Conway · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2001 7:10 pm Post subject:

I agree with your overall statement .. However I think it would be rather simple to coordinate each season so that it ended in a single championship event ... The problem that I see is the Olympics themselves .. They, as you said, have nothing to do with track and field ... And therefore will always act as its own entity ... As long as that is the case AND the Olympics are considered the pinnacle of sport, it will forever be difficult for track and field to develop its own true championships !!! UNLESS the media buys into it ... YOu see as much as the media puts track and field on the back burner for 3 years at a time, it is track and field that is hyped as the Olympics primary sport ... Creates quite a dicotomy !!! Sad

Dan · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2001 10:24 am Post subject:

I could see it potentially working in non-Olympic years, but it would require the IAAF truly wanting to make it happen, not just giving it lip service. Any other sport's governing body would be intelligent enough to see that a true championship would help, not hurt, them...

As for the Olympics and trying to fit them into such a scheme, doesn't the IAAF rely rather heavily on the IOC for funding?

Dan

Conway · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2001 10:32 pm Post subject:

You know I'm not really sure how they are funded ... Guess I always assumed that each of the individual bodies pay into the IAAF ... But I guess it doesn't have to be that way ... Just an assumption on my part ...

Not even sure how it all came into being for that matter ... One of those things that is just sort of there ... It (and individual national bodies for that matter) could probably stand to be reviewed ... Charters .. Reason for existence .. Etc ... Then the sport coudl re-evaluate itself and create a new "Business Plan" for operation ... And run itself as a true business ... Smile

Dan · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2001 12:55 am Post subject:

I could be way off base, but I thought the IAAF actually funds the national bodies to some extent. That's the impression I got with the USATF situation before Masback took over, with the USATF basically selling its soul (future TV ad revenue) to the IAAF to bail it out of financial ruin.

A reassessing of everyone's function would sure be good. If nothing else, it would be more productive than a hands-on study of 2 miss rules in the vault... Sad

Dan

Conway · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2001 8:15 am Post subject:

Well, lets face it .. The sport needs a tune up ... IT gets very little publicity outside of the olympics ... Yet it has this perennial black eye, that it continues to fester itself .. Sad

... The potential for stars galor ... Yet seemingly can't figure out how to promote them ... Of any of the major sports (basketball, baseball, football) were being operated in the same capacity they would have to fold .. And the irony is that they are subordinate sports to track and field in the ultimate sporting event - the Olympics themselves !!!! Sad

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