Doha (AFP)
"No athlete talks about this," said IAAF President Sebastian Coe, questioned Wednesday by the press about the lack of spectators in the Doha Khalifa Stadium stadiums at the World Athletics Championships in Doha ( Qatar).
"I spent the last four nights on the warm-up track before the start of the session, I arrive an hour before and I sit down to talk to the medical teams, the coaches, the athletes (...) None of them talk about that, and I'm going to be a bit tough, but in my opinion the athletes who focus on these external issues are not the ones who go away with medals, "Sebastian Coe teased.
"Of course we would have liked to have more spectators in the stadium, but there are simple reasons to understand that made this difficult challenge," said Coe, referring to the economic and diplomatic blockade suffered by Qatar. from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt because of links with Iran, the rival regional power of the Saudis, and support for radical Islamist groups. What Doha denies fiercely.
Since the start of the Worlds on Friday, the controversy swells on the many empty seats of Khalifa stadium, yet largely covered on its upper parts, which sounded hollow especially in the finals of the 100 m men and women Saturday and Sunday, two usual highlights of the Worlds athletics.
The world champion decathlon, the Frenchman Kevin Mayer, had thus spoken Saturday of a "catastrophe" by evoking the holding of the competition in Qatar.
"What really matters to me (...) is to have the approval of the athletes, coaches and team leaders on our organization.If I get it, I am satisfied," assured the British, re-elected last week for a four-year term at the helm of world athletics.
© 2019 AFP