Numbers don’t lie! Athletics’ popularity increasing
From left: Silver medalists Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kemba Nelson, and Shericka Jackson of Team Jamaica pose after competing in the Women's 4x100m Relay Final on day nine of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 23, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
What you need to know:
- Another highlight of the 2023 season will be the first World Road Running Championships that will be spiced up with the mile, 5,000 metres alongside the traditional half marathon.
- The competition will be hosted in Riga, Latvia, from September 30 to October 1.
World Athletics President Seb Coe is confident athletics is on an upward trajectory with the sport now “closer to the people” and the younger generation interacting more with track and field.
In a wide-ranging “state of the nation” virtual address to African athletics journalists, the multiple Olympic medalist and former world record holder said this season’s figures across various aspects of the sport indicated athletics is growing in popularity.
Ferdinand Omanyala of Team Kenya and Oblique Seville of Team Jamaica compete in the Men’s 100 Meter Semi-Final on day two of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 16, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
“We had four World Athletics Series events (in 2022) where almost 4,000 athletes competed from 180 countries, 261 national records were set and we reached a cumulative global TV audience of over one billion,” Coe disclosed.
He said the full 2022 season of Diamond League events and 162 Continental Tour events around the world saw over 13,000 athletes from 159 countries compete, setting nine area (continental) records and 173 national records.
Coe further broke down the numbers: “The number of Personal Bests recorded throughout the season across the 180,000 elite athletes was over 400,000. This compares to 269,000 in 2021, 183,000 in 2020 and 308,000 in 2019.
“On the road, we will have had 200 events with almost three million people participating by the end of the year.”
He said the athletics numbers continued to impress on the internet with the World Athletics website recording 34 million visitors with over one billion hits on World Athletics’ competition statistics database that recorded 1.25 million results for the 180,000 elite athletes active in the 2022 season.
“The total impact of hosting our four World Championships came to $316 million ($237 million of this being the impact of the World Championships in Oregon), according to Nielsen study, measuring the impact of our signature events across five key indicators – economic, social (as in volunteering, participation, legacy, etc), media, environmental and attendance,” the World Athletics supremo further disclosed.
In the 2022 season, World Athletics’ media coverage has reached 10 billion people and the global federation’s social media followers grown to 10 million, the top five most visible athletes this year, in terms of media coverage, being Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra (812 articles) along with Jamaican sprinters Elaine Thompson-Herah (751), Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce (698), Shericka Jackson (679) and Usain Bolt (574).
Shericka Jackson of Jamaica celebrates after winning gold in the Women's 200m Final on day seven of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 21, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. Carmen Mandato/Getty Images/AFP
This is the first year for many years that Usain Bolt has not led the list.
Coe praised global athletes for being “absolutely focused” and “formidably brave” having come out of challenging, coronavirus-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons.
The World Athletics President predicted that 2023, which will see Budapest host the World Athletics Championships, also promises to be an “extraordinary” season with his Monaco-based international federation focusing on gathering momentum in key areas, including use of data that increases the understandability of the sport among fans.
Another highlight of the 2023 season will be the first World Road Running Championships that will be spiced up with the mile, 5,000 metres alongside the traditional half marathon.
Gold medallists Abby Steiner, Talitha Diggs, Sydney McLaughlin, and Britton Wilson of Team United States celebrate after competing in the Women's 4x400m Relay Final on day ten of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 24, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
The competition will be hosted in Riga, Latvia, from September 30 to October 1.
“This will give an opportunity for people in the mass participation half marathon at the end of the race to be witnessing medals being given to elite athletes at the other end of the race. Mass participation and elite competition are important aspects of our strategic plan,” Coe noted.
