On the first day of athletics action at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe expressed his excitement for the in-stadium action in the French capital in the coming days with athletics set to underline its position as the No.1 Olympic sport.
Coe – who was joined at the media conference by World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon and World Athletics Vice President Ximena Restrepo – pointed to the six medals won by five different nations across four continental areas in the first two athletics events of the Games as a measure of the global nature of the sport.
“I’m delighted to congratulate the Ecuadorian, Brazilian and Spanish teams for winning medals in the men’s 20km race walk this morning and the Chinese, Spanish and Australian teams for their medals in the women’s event.
“That’s a pretty good indication of how universal our sport is.
“Athletics is the heart and soul of the Olympic Games,” added Coe. “It feels appropriate that we’re back in a city that has staged the Olympic Games three times. I’m delighted to be here and I know these will be an exceptional Games. I’m exceptionally proud of our history. It was here in Paris in 1924 that Paavo Nurmi won his five gold medals – the biggest athletics gold medal haul at one Games.
“The Olympic Games has the ability to bring people together, particularly in this complicated and convoluted landscape,” Coe continued. “The world may be fractured, but people come here to watch jaw-dropping sport and witness the God-given talent of the exceptional athletes we have in our sport.”
Coe said that the potential inclusion of cross country at the Winter Olympics could help the sport become even more universal by opening up opportunities for Africa.
“The potential for the co-creation of a two-sport option with cyclo-cross is something I discussed with David Lappartient (IOC Member and UCI President) some months ago,” explained Coe. “We’ve had some good discussions – though with a lot of detail still to be sorted – about the idea of sharing the same course with cyclo-cross. It would add a bit of jeopardy into cross-country, which of course is something that we’ve welcomed in that discipline in recent years.
“For me there’s one really important element in this: I’ve always wanted to see cross country back at the Olympics. It’s obviously more at home in the winter, it’s historically and traditionally a winter sport. And it gives Africa an opportunity to play a serious part in the Winter Games.”
During the Paris 2024 Games, World Athletics will become the first international federation to award prize money to its Olympic champions, financially rewarding athletes for achieving the pinnacle of sporting success. Each gold medallist will receive US$50,000.
“A key part of our strategy has been to reward our athletes; they are the stars of the show,” explained Ridgeon. “They deserve to share an increasing part of the sport’s income. If you look at our existing World Championship beyond the Olympic Games, we’re spending $24m in prize money over a full Olympic cycle.
“We felt that our highest profile event should be part of that. It’s also our intention to extend the prize money to all three medallists at the next Olympic Games in LA.”
With temperatures in Paris having reached 35C earlier in the week, Coe was asked about the impact that climate change could have on the athletics landscape.
“This isn’t something that’s crept up on us in just the past few years,” said Coe. “70% of our athletes have told us that climate change has not only impacted their competition programme but also their training programme. Sport is going to have to take some of these issues into their own hands. I can’t see us not having a root-and-branch review of the global calendar to deal with some of these issues.
“We’re talking about the welfare of our athletes, and maybe we’re going to have to move some of our endurance events to other times of the year,” he added. “If we’re true to our word about athletes being the first thought and not the last consideration, then there are lots of things that we are going to have to address in years to come, and probably sooner rather than later.”
For now, though, Coe is looking forward to seeing a full stadium of fans at the Stade de France.
“It’s great to see such big crowds at different sports at these Games and to be in a position to have a major event with a full stadium,” said Coe. “The athletics in Tokyo three years ago was great, and I’m actually surprised the athletes competed as well as they did in Tokyo given the slightly sterile atmosphere, but having noisy, passionate and informed crowds in the stadium over the next 11 days will make a huge difference to the athletes.”
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