Africa fears changes are bad news [World XC]

[carlosreyes2k]

The Diamond League has no stops in Africa.
(Doha and Monaco are as close as they get.)
The World XC Championships are now bi-annual.
(Or "Biennial" as they spell it on the U.K. sites)

And these changes are to increase the world wide appeal of Athletics?

After reading the article I'm inclined to agree with the reps from Africa that these changes are kind of like a penalty for the dominance of East Africa in distance running.

Which is interesting given that the rest of the world seems to slowly be catching up at the moment.

I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that but at first glance those are my thoughts.

This could be construed as a retaliation or a 10th Avenue Freeze Out.

[vencio2]

but there has never been a major tier-1 grand prix meeting in Africa, so there's no difference there. the iaaf permit meets that have been held in places like dakar tend, if memory serves correctly, to have had patchy fields in terms of quality, and not even that well attended by the continent's top stars. i don't know what kind of spectator audience size they draw. presumably there is no major iaaf invitational in africa because they can't get the athletes there nor the crowds.

having the WXC biennually (as opposed to biannual - i.e. twice yearly) might serve to make the event more prestigious

[gh]

Both decisions are financially based.

Hosting a DL meet requires deep-pocket sponsoring that has yet to present itself in Africa.

The XC, for whatever reason, is having trouble finding cities/countries that want to stage it. Tough to stage a competition when there aren't viable bidders.

[Daisy]

The XC, for whatever reason, is having trouble finding cities/countries that want to stage it.

Maybe a permanent home is in order?

[gh]

If you can't find somebody willing to take it on once, who wants a permanent white elephant?

[Daisy]

If you can't find somebody willing to take it on once, who wants a permanent white elephant?

True, on the other hand if its in the right place it might actually be profitable. Don't ask me where the right place is though. Maybe it does not exist.

[gh]

The only place that truly supports track on an ongoing basis is Europe, and European nations appear to have almost completely lost any interest in going up against the Kenyan and Ethiopian juggernauts.

At this year's World Cross, only 12 nations fielded senior women's teams, and GB, Spain & Portugal were only Europeans among them.

On the men's side, 19 teams, with the same three plus France.

Highest placing by a Euro-born woman 15th; highest man 26th.

When you've lost your biggest market, you're in trouble.

[toyracer]

Hosting a DL meet requires deep-pocket sponsoring that has yet to present itself in Africa.

gh, would a DL meet be any more expensive than our Jamaica International Invitational? We have quite a few "big names (international)" here each year, and the meet is already decently recognized. A few voices here are wondering if we were even considered for hosting a DL event. We did the WJC a few years ago, and given the recent rise in status of our athletes on the world stage it may have made sense to host a leg of the DL.

Your thoughts?

[Conor Dary]

It is sad, since the World CC is such a great meet, but predictable. After all a dual meet between Ethiopia and Kenya has little public appeal in Europe and none in the US.

[gh]

DL question moved to its own thread.

[dl]

Haven't been able to find anywhere when the first non-World XC year (i.e. 2011 or 2012) will be. I'd imagine it'll be the even year they skip, since World Indoors takes place every even year. Anyone know?

2010 in Bydgoszcz is still on, at least.

[doug091463]

this is another example of discrimination against the basically kenyan/ethiopian runners for being dominant in a sport through dedication and hard work, hect the USA road racing circuit was made in reality because the africans were EARNING most of the prize money, so to appease the hate mongers they made a whole series of races where africans are excluded, from winning prize money and if someone says it isnt why is there a
15k and a 10 mile road usa championship
a 20k and a half marathon road usa championship
as well as many other similar distances.
the funny thing is the USA runners who give themselves a chance by racing real competion do very well. hall, lagat, ritz, lamong, manzano, teg even ulrey got a huge personal best by putting himself with top people, even if they dont win, they are getting good times.

the thought that one ethnic group is just better at some sports even if it has some truth to it changes over time. example if anyone could remember the 1970's
if someone told you, we would not only need are nba all stars to win international tournaments, but are nba all stars would even lose at the world champs when they are held in the USA and in world championships we would have a team of nba all stars lose to teams like new zealand, greece, germany and others and even get routed in some of the games and not place top 5 in the team standings- who would have believed it?

if someone told you most of the top distance runners would be black- who would have believed it.?

if someone said the richest athlete in sports would be a black golfer who would have believed it?

if someone told you the heavyweight boxing division would not only have a white champion, but most of the top contenders being white who would have believed it?

if someone told you a black man would be president, winning lots of states with very few black people in it (idaho, montana, oregon etc) and losing most states with big black populations (louisiana, mississippi) who would have believed it?

so now they are going to make world cross country a every other year event instead of a yearly event, why ? because the ethiopians/kenyans are dominating it. and people are going to say this aint discrimination, i say it sure is, and if anyone here does not think these moves are not being used because of discrimination, just go to letsrun and look at all the anti- african threads, why do schools recruit foreigners? lagat he is not a REAL american,
the hate goes on and on and on. and why because the east africans are winning fair and square and i guess it is easier to exclude a group than it is to try to beat them.

i want to thank all the USA sprinters who have not decided to create a circuit that would exclude jamaican sprinters because of the jamaican sprinters success the last 2 years.

i hope we dont ever get to the point there is a usa sprint championship in the
200 meter run and the 210 meter runand the 195 meter run.

[rasb]

Sorry, doug, you are completely missing the point, perhaps deliberately so, but if not, your powers of analysis need some work...
This has nothing to do with "hate". It has to do with public interest, and thus sponsorship. I love distance running but my interest in events with 15 or 20 East Africans on the start lines has decreased considerably. It is just not that interesting to most of the World, to send their best athletes and know that they will, for the most part, be cannon fodder. You can decry that position all that you want, but that's the way it is. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the World Cross Country cancelled altogether in the near future. And I think that is a shame, because I have always been a huge supporter of that event, both as a Coach and as a fan. I will add that the "loose" immigration and athletic representation policies of several Nations, exacerbates the problem.

[tm71]

I will add that the "loose" immigration and athletic representation policies of several Nations, exacerbates the problem/

like all the former africans representing some of the small but very rich persian gulf nations.

[rasb]

I will add that the "loose" immigration and athletic representation policies of several Nations, exacerbates the problem/

like all the former africans representing some of the small but very rich persian gulf nations.

Exactly right... that seems such an abomination of International Sport, at least to me...