New Delhi (AFP)
The second fastest man in history in the 100m and 200m, Jamaican Yohan Blake, in his turn, crushes the president of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) Sebastian Coe for his "stupid" reform. Diamond League: "He is there to put the sport in value but he kills it.It's crazy," he criticized Monday.
In order to satisfy the broadcasters by offering them a 90-minute program starting in 2020, four events were put on the sidelines: the 200m, the triple jump, the 3,000m steeple and the discus throw.
In return, the IAAF has launched a new circuit of meetings, called "Continental Tour", a kind of 2nd division that will include the excluded events of the Diamond League.
"I think all disciplines are important, it's also a sporting career issue, where they make a living," Blake, 29, said at a promotional event in Mumbai, India.
The 2011 World Champion in the 100m, the second fastest man on the planet behind retired star Usain Bolt, is not the first to criticize the reform that Coe wanted to re-elect at the end of September for a second four-year term at the head of the IAAF.
A group of American athletes described the reform as a "major misstep". The American Christian Taylor, double Olympic triple jump champion, announced the creation of an association of athletes to allow them to make their voices heard better.
The reigning world champions of the 3,000m steeple, Kenyans Conseslus Kipruto and Beatrice Chepkoech, strongly criticized a "radical decision", and world record holder Decathlon, Frenchman Kevin Mayer, regretted that athletics is " slave of the TV ".
The first leg of the Diamond League 2020 is scheduled for April 17 in Doha (Qatar), the final on September 11 in Zurich (Switzerland).
© 2019 AFP