TOKYO, Japan, Aug 5 – World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe has tipped the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi to produce future global stars as he challenged the junior athletes to make their names in the event set for August 17-22.
Coe lauded the Kenyan government for successfully planning the event that will be held under difficult circumstances owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was scheduled to be held last year (2020) but it was postponed by a year after COVID-19 paralyzed all sporting activities in the world.
“I thank the Athletics Kenya and the government for being resilient and determined to deliver this Championships, my thanks go to everybody from the federation president Jackson, Sports CS Amina, it would have been easier for them to cancel but they went on and we appreciate it,” Coe said in Tokyo while addressing Kenyan journalist.
He added, “When we started the year, I was determined that unless it was beyond our control, no event was to be canceled and I am very happy with the work done with the health science teams that worked very closely with Kenyan Health Ministry Athletics Kenya for helping us put up safety measures.”
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the Sports Ministry to ban fans from attending the event, which means there will be contrasting scenes compared to 2017 when Kenya hosted the World Under 18 at the same venue, Karasani Stadium that was full to capacity.
“I am sorry that fans will not be given opportunity to see great athletes, but we understand that it was a great sacrifice that had to be made for the betterment of the sport. The fact that we don’t have fans in stadium will not mean that the event will not be successful.”
Coe, a former 800m runner, reckoned the importance of the junior event, underlining that it is the foundation of future super stars like David Rudisha and Usain Bolt but he is worried that many champions of the event fall along the way.
“Many federations and athletes are grateful that the event is happening, and it is important because one of the biggest challenges we have in athletics is to keeping young people in our sport in the ages of 18 to 21,” Coe underscored.
“Smooth transition from junior to senior has become a big challenge. Athletics statistics show that most athletes who win medals in the junior championships actually don’t make it to their national senior team, so there is a very big attrition so these championships are very critical for all our athletes to remain focused and excited about understanding the journey to becoming senior athletes.”
However, Coe was pleased with the performance of junior athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games and is hopeful of the future of athletics in the world.
“I have never been more optimistic about the future of Athletics like today because I am watching young, resilient talented athletes performing in large part at the very highest level, if you look at every result, you seeing personal bests, seasons best, world leading performances, the assessment of Athletics performance is an athlete coming here and running a PB or SB,” Coe said.
He added, “I am optimistic because we have young talents, when you see the two girls in 800m gold and silver (Athing Mu of USA and Keely Hodgkinson of UK) under the age of 20 you know that the sport is actually in good shape.”
The World Athletics chief noted that he is happy to see Africa host major championships and that fulfils his mission when he was elected to the office.
“I’m also excited that straight after the Olympics, our season does not finish here we get back straight to the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi which is important and I am looking forward to an exciting event.”
“When I got elected five years ago, I said that I want to take championships to Africa, and now we have Diamond League in Rabat, Morocco, Continental Tour in Nairobi, we have had two World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda), the world championships in Kenya, it is important for Africa given the opportunity to stage events in a continent that is passionate about sports.”
