Athletics: 2020 or the vertigo of a virgin year

Text by: Farid Achache Follow

With the coronavirus pandemic, athletics has been stopped since the end of the winter season in March. In France, at that time, the cross championships had been canceled. Since then, everything has come to a standstill.

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The athletics track season, summer sport par excellence, has not yet started. The Diamond League, the major circuit of world athletics whose kickoff was to be given on April 17 in Doha (Qatar), is stopped.

The European Championship which was to take place from 25 to 30 August in Paris has been deleted from the calendar. The decision to cancel it outright even surprised. It was to be the only major event of the summer after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. "  Since the confinement, I suspected that the Olympic Games and the European Championships would not take place ," comments the decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer . I am training for the next competition while not knowing where and when it could take place.  "

No bigger sporting goal this season

Other headliners of tricolor athletics, notably Mélina Robert-Michon are obviously disappointed. “  It was like the last chance to have a great event this summer. Anyway, you have to train for next year's Games  , ”said the Olympic vice-champion of the disc. The athletes are deprived of their last major sporting objective of the season, especially since the International Athletics Federation has suspended the qualification period for the Tokyo Olympics until next November 30.

"  The track, in my opinion it's finished for this year  ", confides to RFI Florian Carvalho, French athlete, specialist in middle distance races. “  I train around my house. I can motivate myself, even if there is no goal at the moment. But normally we are in the middle of the season and it's a little weird. Training alone is not easy. Sport is about sharing and exchange. This is what I miss the most outside of the competition. A year without competition would be something new. I imagine there will be a strong impact on performance. There is nothing that replaces normal training and competitions  ”, explains the one who had been selected for the 2012 Olympics in London.

" We do not rule out the catastrophic scenario of a blank year ," André Giraud, president of the French Athletics Federation (FFA) , told Ouest-France . But who can say what will happen tomorrow ? "André Giraud is worried:"  If there were no competition in 2020, this could endanger the life of the FFA (its budget is 24 M €). We have the finances to deal with a two-three month suspension. We remain optimistic by counting on a late season that can allow us to bounce back as much as possible.  "The sixty high-level athletes paid by the clubs is also at the center of the concerns of the Federation, which" does everything to maintain their salary, "according to André Giraud.

Athletes soon to be dropped by sponsors?

"  The athletes are like salespeople and they will look for bonuses in the meeting, like those of the Diamond League  ", explains to RFI Kévin Hautcœur, who notably represents Pierre-Ambroise Bosse , specialist in the 800 meters, world champion in 2017 and Jimmy Vicaut (the only Frenchman to descend below the bar of 9.90 for 100m). The risk of seeing them lose a financial year is real. “At  the moment, the equipment manufacturers are not selling anything and cannot reinvest in the athletes. T he brands will perhaps reduce the airfoil , specifies Kévin Hautcœur. Without counting the budget cuts of the communities.  "

Some athletes may have 70% of their income from an equipment supplier. Others rely heavily on cities or General Councils. And it should not be overlooked that most of the time, contracts are signed with a view to the Olympic deadline which has been postponed to 2021. A real headache for some at the end of the contract.

Most of the players in athletics started their training last September to perform well this summer. What can happen in their heads, when there is no longer a goal, more competition, and the vagueness remains in place for the next few weeks?

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