The German Athletics Federation (DLV) has decided to conduct the shot put competition at this year’s German Championships in the town centre of host city Ulm (population 125,000), and shot put ace David Storl likes the idea – a lot.
Competition format
A future for athletics
According to the recently released ASC/CSIRO report The future of Australian sport, people who want to participate in sport will increasingly do so on their own terms, when it suits them or in ad-hoc groups led by personal trainers/coaches and not necessarily for the purpose of competing but simply to stay fit, and they want to stay active for as long as they can well into old age.
Hammer throwers – an endangered species?
The Weltklasse-Meeting in Zürich is a fantastic event. When I was a young lad Christmas was a far distant second favourite to my yearly trip to Zürich to watch the best athletes in the world. In fact, this meet is what got me hooked on athletics in the first place. The meet has always been a spectacular show. When I attended in 2009 I saw only one real difference, apart from a new stadium, and that was the extra-curricular show elements that make the meet even more of a spectacle now, without in the least detracting from the sport. The star athletes are presented to the crowd in the most extravagant ways, and the night ends with fireworks.
When I reflect back I notice that I never saw the hammer throw in the Letzigrund stadium, but when I recently read an article in the Swiss paper Basler Zeitung (BaZ, 6 July 2012) featuring the meet director, Patrick Magayar, I realised just what a neglected event the hammer throw has become, and why some of the more prominent throwers have to fight so hard for acceptance.
Below a few translated* extracts from this interview, which would have to be of concern to hammer throwers:
BaZ: Sports continue to develop. How about new events for athletics?
Magayar: I would say if anything we have too many events and would have to cut away old ones. Not invent new ones.
BaZ: Which ones would you leave out?
Magayar: We have to distinguish between what we want to maintain as core events within athletics, and what can be accommodated for in one-day meets.. Events such as our meet are primarily for the entertainment of spectators. And in a large stadium the heavy throws – shot, discus, hammer – are not really suitable. But here too the entertainment value depends on who is competing. If Gregory Ott puts 21 metres in three years, then we will once again be a united nation of shot putters.**
BaZ: So much for which events are suitable for one day events. But if there are too many events – which ones would you get rid of?
Magayar: I would really think hard about where I still have how many registered hammer throwers. In the hammer throw we are approaching a category [of sport] like the bobsled. These are sensational athletes, but that’s not the point. A long time ago I tried for fun to beat Sergei Litwinow in a 30 metre sprint. I didn’t even see him, that’s how fast he reached the finish line. But there are fewer and fewer of them, so one has to ask whether it makes sense that stadia are equipped for such an event.
No further comment required.
———————–
* My own translation.
**Gregory Ott is a budding young Swiss shot putter, who is tipped to follow in the footsteps of the great Werner Günthör.
A new approach to athletics competition and training for children in Australia
In my paper “A new approach to athletics competition and training for children in Australia” I argue for a complete overhaul of the athletics competition and training system for children in the interest of a more effective long term development of our athletes and improved retention.
Feel free to comment below or email me directly.
A new approach to athletics competition and training for children in Australia
Why six throws are adequate
After the IAAF introduced the option for organisers to allow all competitors four trials rather than applying the usual 3+3 format, there has been an increasing tendency even by national and state organisers to limit the number of attempts for horizontal field events to four, presumably to make competitions shorter and sharper.
Throwing weights adjusted!
To say that I am exhilirated would be an exaggeration, but I am very pleased that the IAAF has finally adjusted at least some of the throwing weights for some youth age groups for some female events, and these recently announced changes will apply to Australian competitors from 1 October 2011, in time for the start of next season.
Harting calls for different competition formats
2009 world discus champion Robert Harting (GER) believes athletics needs to follow the trend observed in other sports and place more emphasis on the entertainment aspect to ensure the sport’s survival.
In an interview with the German athletics portal Leichtathletik.de he suggested that organisers need to think about varying competition formats, even if some experiments might fail. He believes it is important for athletics to go to the public, rather than waiting for the public to flock into the stadiums. He has already flagged the banks of the river Spree (throwing across the river of course, which is fair enough if you happen to be a 60m thrower) and the Brandenburg Gate in his hometown of Berlin as possible venues for discus competitions.
He welcomed the best-of-five duel he competed in last September in Neubrandenburg, saying these are the sort of exciting meets the public want to see. In that meet the winner of the throwing and jumping events was not the one with the best distance at the end of 4 or 6 rounds, but the athlete who in direct trial by trial comparison was the first to win three “rallies”. In his duell with Piotr Malachowski the guest from Poland won the first throw-off with 67.32m to 65.59m. Both fouled their second attempt. Harting won the next set with 68.88m to 64.94m, the fourth with 67.33m to 65.57m, and the final one with a new personal best of 69.69m to a foul by Malachowski, which earned him a handy €3,000.
Robert Harting also suggests competitions with more events, but only featuring 4-5 competitors per event, allowing TV viewers to better identify emotionally with fewer competitors. These meets could best be marketed in a league-type format.
Certainly these are some interesting ideas worth thinking about.
Source: leichtathletik.de: Robert Harting will über die Spree werfen