Dhe World Athletics Championships, which begin this Friday and begin with the first highlights of the weekend in the men’s and women’s sprints, are taking place in a developing country: the United States. For the first time since the premiere of these title fights in Helsinki in 1983 – before that the track and field athletes understood the Olympic Games as their world championships – the most successful track and field athletes in the world are competing in front of their own audience.
Runners, throwers and jumpers, all-around athletes and relay teams from the United States have won 169 titles and 380 medals at the 17 world championships so far. That is more than twice as much as the statistical Germany from the GDR and the Federal Republic has brought, number two in the cumulative medal table. In the coming ten days, Americans with outstanding successes are expected to increase their lead, while in the German team long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo is the only candidate for the title.
All hope rests on Eugene in Oregon
However, America’s track and field athletes have to hope that their home crowd will even notice them and their achievements. Stars of this sport are big unknowns in America. Every four years, at the Olympics, American sports audiences allow them to distract from the serial entertainment provided by American football, basketball, and baseball. Outside of the summer games, however, the core sport of Olympia leads a marginal existence. The universities, above all the University of Ohio in Eugene, and sponsor Nike ensure the existence of athletics in America.
Pole vaulter Sandy Morris, second at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, second at the World Championships in London 2017 and Doha 2019 and two-time world indoor champion, says she is often asked in disbelief whether she really does it for a living. Can she really make a living from it? Olympic gold medalist Mondo Duplantis, the men’s pole vault high achiever, lives in both worlds. In Sweden, his mother’s homeland, for whom he competes in sports, he is recognized on the street. In America, where he was born and raised and where he lives over the winter, he can, as he says nonchalantly, enjoy extensive anonymity.
Not only athletes hope to put athletics and thus themselves in the spotlight. World Athletics, the world association led by Brit Sebastian Coe, also wants to finally tap the potential of this market. Obviously, victories by American athletes are not enough. Hope rests on the small college town of Eugene, Oregon, and its athletics-loving crowd.
Track Town/USA is what they call their city, which is the stronghold and epicenter of American athletics. If the mood spreads from Hayward Field with the magnificent new stadium to the television viewers, this should not only make the world association easier economically. The dubious procedure with which the World Cup was awarded to America should also be subsequently legitimized when Eugene 2022 becomes a festival.
Europe is largely left behind by this World Cup. The nine-hour time difference between America’s west coast and central Europe pushes the most exciting decisions for Old World audiences into the very, very early hours of the morning. Many will not set the alarm clock for this, but sleep in. It is also important for the audience to gather strength for the European Championships in Munich. These are likely to have a greater resonance in Germany and Europe than the World Cup, also because of the better chances of success. But here too, athletics urgently needs to come up with something to address their lack of presence and relevance.
