Empty seats cast shadow on Doha hosting worlds

DOHA, QATAR >> As ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce completed her victory lap after once again being crowned as the fastest woman on the planet, she held her 2-yearold son and waved to the crowd.

Well, crowd is an exaggeration. There appeared to be only dozens of fans left just minutes after the women’s 100-meter final, one of the marquee events of the world track championships in Doha, Qatar. Most of them were Jamaican supporters, team officials or Fraser-Pryce family members.

Just before the race, as the lights dimmed for an extravagant laser show, it appeared that as few as 1,000 paying fans were in the stands at Khalifa International Stadium on Sunday night to see FraserPryce win her fourth world title.

“I actually did notice that the stadium wasn’t full,” she said. “Even though there were 1,000 people in the stands, the two most important people were here to see me compete.”

The lack of fans over the first three days of the event have renewed criticism of the IAAF’s decision to award its showpiece event to a tiny country without a significant track and field fan base and intense heat.

The open-air stadium is air-conditioned, but the marathon and long race walks are being held after midnight through empty streets.

The IAAF would not comment on the growing reputational damage caused by the empty seats, pushing responsibility on local organizers who issued a statement Monday blaming the poor attendance on a latenight schedule to accommodate global television audiences. It also cited Qatar being boycotted by neighbors, including the United Arab Emirates.

Doha’s hosting has been under question since it was selected by the IAAF in 2014.

However, IAAF President Sebastian Coe can’t blame that decision on predecessor Lamine Diack. Coe was not only a vice president of the governing body at the time but on the evaluation commission of bidders.

Coe said in 2014 that Qatar “put some incentives on the table” including building tracks around the world. A year later, Coe was telling British parliamentarians he was unsure if the bid was clean.

Qatar’s conduct in bidding for the world athletics championships, first unsuccessfully for the 2017 edition, remains under criminal investigation in France. A preliminary charge of “active corruption” was filed in May against Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the chairman of the beIN media group who also runs French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain. He denies wrongdoing. The case focuses on a $3.5 million payment to an IAAF official.