The Berlin Olympic Stadium during the Golden League (© Getty Images)
World Athletics in something like its present form began in 1896. Equipment was rudimentary. Running tracks of cinders; bamboo poles for the pole vault. rudimentary equipment for measurement of sand pits for Long and Triple Jump and so forth. Gradually over the years technology has reformed all the events and women are no longer thought of as the gentle sex.
Our forebears would be astonished to learn that a woman pole vaulter could clear 5.05m or a man run run 200m in 19.30 for 200m.
That is the nature of sport. continually striving to produce the best results and amazing performances. However Athletics has its problems. More and more athletes are reaching and breaking the existing performances with the effect that competition can often stray into the late hours. This is of little help to both athletes and the public. This is especially noticeable in indoor events.
First of all there is qualification. This may start early in the morning and continue late in to the night. The best athletes may have to perform on all 3 days allowed by the rules. At any time there may be 3 or 4 field events going on simultaneaously on the inside of the stadium while runners are performing both on the outside track and inside on the 60m 6 lane track for sprint and hurdles. All this has to be choreagraphed to keep the action moving.
There may as many as 2000 people from athletes to officials currently active over the 3 days. Traditionally the event spreads across Friday to Sunday with continuous activity.
However for the first time in 2010 the World Indoor Championships will be slightly altered. Day one, Friday, will be totally committed to qualification of the all the events; from early morning to evening. This may only interest keen officionadoes and the interest for the public will be so-so. However there is a dramatic change for Saturday and Sunday. All the events will be semi-finals and finals giving much greater interest for the public,TV and Media, with a time scale of 3 hours in the evenings of Saturday and Sunday.
If this is successful as we expect we may consider a similar grouping of events for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin – this is not true.
Adrian Metcalfe for the IAAF
