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