The Paris Olympics situation would have been funny if it weren't sad

I knew that something was amiss with the Games when, while discussing with Pierre and Frédéric Gousset, I learned that the two decathlon specialists had decided to eschew attending the competition in the stadium. The reason is simple. For two persons and two days of attendance, one must spend 2000 euros. I was really flabbergasted when I heard that price. The idea for the Games was sold to us as the event being the People's Games. I don't know who the organisers were having in mind when they were referring to "people", but definitely we do not have the same definition. Can you imagine that they ask people to buy tickets for babies? (But, in their magnanimity, the organisers propose children's tickets for the Paralympics at discounted rates).

And then I stumbled upon an article on the InsidetheGames website, entitled "Paris 2024: Unfulfilled promises", and I felt that I had to write about the situation. You can visit the page and read all the details, including the ones on the financial impact of the Games, but here I am going to write about something that I find really revolting. 

Why on Earth did they have to connect the Aquatic Centre to the Stade de France?

On April 4th, E. Macron, the president of the French Republic, inaugurated the Olympic Aquatic Centre. When one reads "aquatic", one immediately concludes that that's where the swimming competitions will be held. Well, no. The Olympic pool was initially planned at a cost of 70 million euros. However, when the project had to be finalised a realistic estimate elevated the cost to 260 million! So the initial project had to be abandoned. And the organisers fell back to another, less ambitious project, still costing 175 million. But there's a catch. The Olympic Aquatic Centre can seat only 5000 spectators.  World Aquatics, requires a minimum of 15000 seats for international swimming events of high level. So, the Olympic Aquatic Centre cannot be used for the swimming events of the Olympics and will not be homologated for major international events like World and Continental championships. It will host only artistic swimming, diving and water polo.

And how about swimming? The swimming events (as well as the water polo finals) will be held in the La Défense Arena. Two pools made from stainless steel, constructed by the italian company Myrtha Pools, will be installed. After the Games, the pools will be moved to the towns of Sevran and Bagnolet (both suburbs of Paris). And, of course, now that the goose is cooked, everybody pretends that it has never been on the agenda to have swimming events in the Olympic Aquatic Cantre. But it remains that 175 million euros have been spent and Paris still lacks a real Olympic-standard swimming pool.

One is tempted to burst out laughing, but on second thought, realising that all that money squandered for the rigmarole of the Games is coming out of the pockets of ourselves, French citizens, the tendency is rather to weep. The only consolation is that Athletics is shaping up to be of a very high level this summer.

Women fight back

March 8 was the International Women's Day. And the IOC proudly announced that there will be a full gender parity in the Paris, 2024, Olympics. There are some naïve/hypocritical statements about the 2.2 % female presence in the 1900 Paris Olympics which has evolved over the years, reaching 50 % 124 years later in the same city. 

But everybody knows that the 2.2 % of Paris 1900 was there because the organisers had taken the organisation out of de Coubertin's hands. And, in the almost 30 years that de Coubertin had the control of the IOC, the percentage of female participation stagnated below 5 %. While Amsterdam 1928 saw a substantial jump, thanks to the efforts of A. Milliat, it was not until after 1972 and the departure of another misogynist, A. Brundage, from the presidency of the IOC that women started being treated as equal to men. 

But, to tell the truth, I am not quite sure that they are really considered equal to men. When it comes to Athletics real parity has yet to be reached. While men participate in what I consider the king of events, the decathlon, women must content themselves with a boring, watered-down version, the heptathlon, light on technical events, which allows athletes who excel in just one event to shine, contrary to the decathlon which requires true versatility. 

I have written time and again on this point. Women have been fighting for the right to compete in the decathlon but World Athletics is turning a deaf ear. Well, women decided to fight back. This started with the organisation of the first women's indoor heptathlon. And now they are taking the offensive to the next level.

On the same day the IOC was gloating over women-men parity, the Women's Decathlon Association announced the creation of the first women's decathlon world championships. It will be held on August 3 and 4, the very same days of the men's Olympic decathlon. (If you think, as I initially did, that the event will be organised in Switzerland, read again; the venue is in Ohio).

Now, it is clear that only World Athletics have the right to organise World Championships. So, it will be interesting to see how they will react. They may ignore the event hoping that the movement will go away (it won't) or they can threaten the organisers with sanctions, or they can grudgingly acknowledge the existence of the movement and make vague promises for the future. Whatever happens, the ball is now in the World Athletics' court.

African Games 2023

I often feel remorse for not publishing anything concerning Athletics in Africa or America. My championships reports are limited to World and European ones. The main reason for this is that I prefer to report on something I have watched live on tv and, since I am not following the African or Pan-American championships, (I don't even know if there is a way to watch them from Europe) I prefer to abstain. Still, I regret this and I try to at least read the summaries published in the World Athletics site.

This time I was surprised to find a very detailed coverage of the athletics competition during the African Games 2023, which were held in Ghana in March 2024. (I guess that after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics held in 2021, organisers can date the major events as they like). And it was in none other but the excellent site Athletics Podium, curated by a small group of Turkish athletics journalists. I have already linked to this great site and I must say that, whenever I visit it, I am impressed by the amount of work and expertise that is being poured into it.

This time they did even better. Imitating World and European athletics who publish books with statistics prior to major events, the people of Athletics Podium compiled the first book with the statistics of the African Games focusing on Athletics. And, of course, the digital book is a free download. It's excellent work and I urge you to go and download it. You will definitely learn something about Athletics in Africa.

World Indoors 2024: field events

M. Tentoglou does not like competing in the morning. But in Glasgow he did not have a choice, the men's long jump being scheduled for 10 a.m. Well, he did not disappoint, winning one more time, with a 8.22 m jump. M. Furlani confirmed his excellent shape finishing second also with 8.22 m (but with a 8.10 second best compared to Tentoglou's 8.19 m). C. McLeod was third with 8.19 m, a suspenseful event indeed. Ex-world champions T. Gayle and J. Wang could do no better than 6th and 9th with 7.89 and 7.74 m respectively.

In the absence of the world champion, I. Vuleta, T. Davis-Woodhall was the number-one favourite. And she went on to win the event in a classy way with a 7.07 m jump, backed by another at 7.03 m. I really like her contagious enthusiasm. M. Nichols was second thanks to a jump at 6.85 m, that allowed her to take an early lead and turned out to suffice for silver. F. Diamé, coached by I. Pedroso, was third with 6.78 m. I was expecting something better from M. Gardasevich and L. Iapichino, who finished 6th and 7th with 6.74 and 6.69 m.

H.F. Zango added the indoor men's triple jump title to the one he won outdoors last summer. M. Triki took an early lead with 17.35 m and in the end won silver, but Zango was unbeatable and won with 17.53 m. T. Pereira was the only other athlete beyond 17 m, his 17.08 m sufficing for bronze. I have been following T. Lafond for some time now, being convinced of her great talent. She had barely missed out on a medal last summer. But this winter, and in the absence of Rojas, she went directly for gold in women's triple jump with 15.01 m. L. Perez-Hernandez jumped 14.90 m and added silver to the bronze she had won outdoors last summer. Olympic bronze medalist A. Peleteiro-Compaoré (another Pedroso athlete) was third, just like 6 years ago in Birmingham, with 14.75 m.

The high jump events were both somewhat surprising (but in a different way).  K. Kerr won the men's event having first time clearances up to 2.31 m. S. McEwen and S. Woo had already difficulties at lower heights and, anyhow, could not go beyond 2.28 m. Kerr had an attempt at 2.34 and when McEwen exited definitely (he had left one attempt for 2.34 m) he raised the bar at 2.36 m. He failed on the first try but went on to succeed on the second, marking a world leading performance. In the women's Y. Mahuchikh took the lead at 1.97 m, where N. Olyslagers failed once. But when the bar was raised at 1.99 Mahuchikh failed thrice while Olyslagers succeeded in the third attempt. That was one more defeat for Mahuchikh  and one more victory for the jumpers from the antipodes. L. Apostolovski was third with 1.95 m, for her first global medal. A. Topic was 5th with 1.92 m. Had she jumped 1.95 m she could have been in contention for a medal. Y. Levchenko was once more disappointing, finishing 9th with 1.84 m.

During a lapse of time everybody were wondering whether they were going to assist at the first major defeat of A. Duplantis in the men's pole vault. He had jumped 5.65 m and then failed twice at 5.85 m. Meanwhile S. Kendricks and E. Karalis had passed that bar on their first try. Well to make a long story short, Duplantis succeeded on his third try and went on to jump 5.95 m winning the event. Then having eliminated the inevitable stress, he went on to jump 6.05 m, a world-leading performance. E. Karalis added a world bronze to his european silver from last year. 

Women's pole vault held both (a minor) surprise but also drama. M. Chevrier, while attempting a 4.65 m jump did not complete her attempt, had a bad fall and broke her ankle.

K. Stefanidi, ex world and olympic champion, could not advance beyond 4.55 just like european champion W. Murto. S. Morris went somewhat higher but her 4.65 m performance was not enough for a medal. K. Moon, the reigning world and olympic champion stopped at 4.75 m, beating A. Moser for bronze on counrback. Only M. Caudery and E. McCarthey could pass the 4.80 m bar, the  former wining gold on countback.

The women's shot put was won by S. Mitton with 20.22 m but that was not an easy victory, Y. Onguleye having led with 20.19 m from the first attempt. R. Crouser was not threatened in the men's event that he won with 22.77 m. Only T. Walsh had a performance beyond 22 m, winning his 5th medal in a World Indoors championship. 

The combined events are always one of the most exciting moments of any athletics championship. Unfortunately the women's event was deprived of a battle for the title when M. Vicente injured herself during the high jump. But as it turned out after the 4th event the classifiction was the following: S. Vanninen 3861 and N. Vidts 3852 points vying for first place. But also S. Dokter 3634, S. Gerevini 3624 and C. Hawkins 3619 points being candidate for bronze. Vidts had a clear superiority in the 800 m and Vanninen could only secure her silver. They finished with 4773 and 4677 points respectively. On the other hand, while Hawkins was not really competitive in the 800 m both Dokter and Gerevini had a chance for the bronze. Their battle over 800 m was really moving. In the end Dokter prevailed winning one more medal for the Netherlands.

The situation in the men's heptathlon was equally interesting. After the 6th event S. Ehammer was leading with 5610 points, K. Mullings being second with 5470, S. Skotheim third with 5457 and J. Erm fourth with 5423 points. M. Rooth had had a rather disappointing competition (he had just 5361 points) and decided to drop out after the pole vault. Given his performance in the 1000 m, Mullings did not stand a chance. (In fact he had lost all hope for a medal when he could not jump beyond 4.60 at the polevault, while he has a 5+ m personal best). Skotheim and Erm were both much better than Ehammer in the 1000 m and they poured all their remaining energy into that last event. But in the end, while they passed easily Mullings, Ehammer did beat them with a very slim margin 6418 to 6407 points for Skotheim (and 6340 For Erm). 

Mullings was fourth with 6242 points and M. Gletty fifth with 6187. I was somewhat disappointed by J. Hautekeete, a young athlete I am following, who finished 8th with 5940 points). 

All in all that was a very nice championship. Now we have to wait for the Europeans in June.