Cathal Dennehy
The world’s best long jumpers have spoken, and it’s safe to say they’re not big fans of the proposals by World Athletics to shake up the event.
by Cathal Dennehy
At the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow this morning, several of them walked off the track. It soon vented its frustration when asked about the proposal, recently outlined by World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon, to trial a take-off zone rather than aboard – the goal being to eliminate fouls and make the event more engaging for fans.
“It’s dog shit,” said Miltiadis Tentoglou, the reigning European, World and Olympic champion, who added his second world indoor title on Saturday, jumping 8.22m to edge Italy’s Mattia Furlani on countback.
“It’s funny,” he added. “It’s so bad, it’s funny. I cannot say anything else.” Tentoglou, though, went on to say much more.
“Everything those guys at World Athletics have changed; they are so bad. Come on, they don’t even try. What is this?”
At the press conference on Friday, World Athletics president Seb Coe said athletes had been consulted about the proposal via its Athletes Commission.
“The athletes are our key stakeholders,” said Coe. “A big chunk of our council meeting was devoted to those types of discussions, and Valerie Adams and Matthew Hughes led them. They’ve got outreach programmes and we speak to the athletes all the time and of course, we shall be guided by what they are thinking.”
However, Tentoglou said World Athletics “never” asked the long jumpers themselves. “They change stuff all the time, and nobody knows anything,” he said. “We are not listened to. I am the Olympic and world champions, and my opinion does not matter. They don’t really care.”
Would Tentoglou participate in the discussions if he’s invited? “Yes,” he said. “But I will be very brutal to them.”
The opinion among his peers about the new proposal was similar, even if their criticisms weren’t quite so blunt. Furlani, who at 19 looks very much like the future of the event, is against the proposal but conceded it has some merit.
“I think it’s not a good idea, but at the same time, it’s a good idea,” he said. “The decision is better for the injuries, speed athletes, and spectators because every jump is long and good. But at the same time, you revolutionise the discipline because you leave the foul (out), and the foul is…
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