Athletics must get creative for world with no Bolt
Coe is correct – to stay relevant in the modern age, his sport has to be willing to experiment, writes Ben Bloom
Meandering competitions are no longer viable in this Snapchat era
Say what you like about Seb Coe, but the man tasked with safeguarding athletics’ future has not tried to shy away from the scale of the task – even if the traditionalists may not want to hear it.
Asked whether athletics could ever be among the top three or four sports in Britain, he gave a brutally frank answer: “If I’m being honest maybe not.”
If acceptance is the first step to change then Coe is on the right path. For all the political bombast that regularly comes out of the mouth of the president of International Association of Athletics Federations, he is determined to leave the sport in a better place than he found it.
For a man who is so allergic to technology that he barely uses a mobile phone or computer, Coe is admirably resolute in his desire to haul athletics into the modern era. The trouble is, how? The emergence of an increasingly fast-paced, bite-sized age has altered the global face of sport forever. Slow, meandering competitions are no longer viable and in their place is a sporting world in which only the biggest names and most spectacular events survive. How else did we end up with an egotistical retired boxer stepping into a Las Vegas ring with a loudmouth novice for £500 million?
Athletics must attempt to compete with this just when it has lost its most marketable commodity. Usain Bolt’s retirement will leave a hole but it is outside the sport that his absence is even more significant – a world in which he, and he alone, could pierce the public conscious. Only Mo Farah came close and he has also left the track. No matter how much the sport attempts to push the likes of Wayde van Niekerk, David Rudisha or Nafi Thiam, none will even vaguely fill that void in this Snapchat era.
Instead, Coe has sought solace in the words “innovative”, “braver” and “more creative”.
Many baulked at Athletics Australia’s novel Nitro Athletics event in Melbourne earlier this year with its threeminute mixed distance challenge, elimination mile and target javelin throw. Some of those ideas were as ludicrous as they sound and will doubtless correctly be consigned to history. But the organisers should be praised for attempting to alter the status quo.
It is for this reason that the creation of The Meet, which sees Britain take on the United States in a head-to-head competition at the London Stadium next summer, is a great idea. In the absence of Bolt and Farah, athletics must do all it can to create rivalries. At two hours, The Meet is short enough to appeal to younger audiences, with enough action to keep spectators enthralled.
Despite attempts to alter the Diamond League scoring system this season, it remains difficult to cohere such a geographically and temporally diverse competition. Is there worth in reducing the number of Diamond League meets in a bid to boost the quality and importance of the few that endure?
How can street events that have successfully moved athletics into central urban settings be expanded to take them beyond a fun sideshow? All questions to consider.
Give things a go. Never criticise change. Try – and potentially fail.
Because make no mistake, surviving in this whizz-bang celebrity era without Bolt and Farah is going to be incredibly difficult. Athletics must be prepared to gamble.