{"id":768,"date":"2012-01-13T15:05:52","date_gmt":"2012-01-13T23:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=768"},"modified":"2012-01-13T15:09:50","modified_gmt":"2012-01-13T23:09:50","slug":"how-to-create-a-true-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=768","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a True World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was taken aback when reading the TFN Editorial<\/a> for January, as it stated that the writer saw no way that there would ever be a \u201cTrue\u201d World Championships. It seems, among other reasons given, that the thought is the various member nations would never vote for a \u201cTrue\u201d World Championships because it would shut many out of the competition.<\/p>\n

\"\"On the surface I would say that that\u2019s probably correct. If we went to a World Championships where the \u201conly\u201d invitees were those that were among the top sixty four individuals (eight opening round heats of eight individuals in a system of heats \/ quarters\/semis\/finals), then yes many nations could be shut out as event powers would dominate. Countries like Kenya & Ethiopia in the distances; and the U.S. and Caribbean nations in the sprints, et al, would have the power to effectively shut out the majority of the rest of the world from participating in those events. But since every nation has only a single vote, the voting block does exist to stop any attempt at implementing THAT particular type of system.<\/p>\n

That said I\u2019m not ready to concede that we don\u2019t have the potential to create a World Championships that is both inclusive of all the nations of the world, and includes the world\u2019s best athletes. After all, Dr. King\u2019s birthday is right around the corner and he had a dream, and so do I. Of course I think the answer to my dream is a bit simpler.<\/p>\n

If we take a look at a potential \u201cTrue\u201d World Championships, what is it that we are looking for? The easy answer is that we want to see the best competing against the best. The ideal situation being that the 60 or so best athletes come to town and have it out, going toe to toe for four rounds on the track \u2013 two flights in the field \u2013 to see who the best athlete in the world is in each event. So, what\u2019s the problem that we have with the current situation? Generally I think we could agree that too often we watch potential medalists watching from the stands or TV because of injury and\/or failure to make a National squad because their country is just too deep in one or more events \u2013 being one of the best in the world doesn\u2019t count if you\u2019re not in the top three in your own country! So it would seem that the \u201cbest\u201d answer to both situations would be to insure that, if we can\u2019t watch the best fight it out for four rounds, we at least get a guarantee that all worthy \u201cfinalists\u201d are able to line up \u2013 so that we can say at the end of the day that the best athletes in the world went toe to toe for the medals!<\/p>\n

If we can agree that that scenario would satisfy the true fans of the sport, then it would seem that the solution is indeed easy \u2013 we ensure that the top 10 athletes per event get invited to the party! If we are to assume that the \u201cpower\u201d nations were going to send their three athletes anyway \u2013 potentially four with a bye \u2013 AND assume that an event could only be dominated by no more than two nations under the current system, we\u2019re then looking at a possible displacement of \u201cother nation athletes\u201d of no more than four athletes per event. This would mean that at the end of the day, we lose a maximum of four contestants per event that may have been \u201clesser athletes\u201d from other nations. I think that\u2019s reasonable collateral to ensure that the FINALS are populated by the world\u2019s best athletes, or those competitors able to defeat them during the qualifying rounds.<\/p>\n

The potential change is small enough in number to almost be negligible. It also would have little to no effect on the amount of money necessary for the IAAF to spend on sending teams to the World Championships. At the same time, however, having the 10 best guaranteed to attend means that in the two semi system there should be a fight among the best in the world in each semi to make that all important final \u2013 and that the eight best should be fighting it out for the medals. And THAT is what we all really want to see!<\/p>\n

We still wouldn\u2019t have our Utopian World Championships, but we would have one in which all the main players would be in attendance \u2013 and that would be a huge step in the right direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was taken aback when reading the TFN Editorial for January, as it stated that the writer saw no way that there would ever be a \u201cTrue\u201d World Championships. It seems, among other reasons given, that the thought is the various member nations would never vote for a \u201cTrue\u201d World Championships because it would shut many out of the competition. On the surface I would say that that\u2019s probably correct. If we went to a World Championships where the \u201conly\u201d invitees were those that were among the top sixty four individuals (eight opening round heats of eight individuals in a system of heats \/ quarters\/semis\/finals), then yes many nations could be shut out as event powers would dominate. Countries like Kenya & Ethiopia in the distances; and the U.S. and Caribbean nations in the sprints, et al, would have the power to effectively shut out the majority of the rest of the world from participating in those events. But since every nation has only a single vote, the voting block does exist to stop any attempt at implementing THAT particular type of system. That said I\u2019m not ready to concede that we don\u2019t have the potential to create a World Championships that is both inclusive of all the nations of the world, and includes the world\u2019s best athletes. After all, Dr. King\u2019s birthday is right around the corner and he had a dream, and so do I. Of course I think the answer to my dream is a bit simpler. If we take a look at a potential \u201cTrue\u201d World Championships, what is it that we are looking for? The easy answer is that we want to see the best competing against the best. The ideal situation being that the 60 or so best athletes come to town and have it out, going toe to toe for four rounds on the track \u2013 two flights in the field \u2013 to see who the best athlete in the world is in each event. So, what\u2019s the problem that we have with the current situation? Generally I think we could agree that too often we watch potential medalists watching from the stands or TV because of injury and\/or failure to make a National squad because their country is just too deep in one or more events \u2013 being one of the best in the world doesn\u2019t count if you\u2019re not in the top three in your own country! So it would seem that the \u201cbest\u201d answer to both situations would be to insure that, if we can\u2019t watch the best fight it out for four rounds, we at least get a guarantee that all worthy \u201cfinalists\u201d are able to line up \u2013 so that we can say at the end of the day that the best athletes in the world went toe to toe for the medals! If we can agree that that scenario would satisfy the true fans of the sport, then it would seem that the solution is indeed easy \u2013 we ensure that the top 10 athletes per event get invited to the party! If we are to assume that the \u201cpower\u201d nations were going to send their three athletes anyway \u2013 potentially four with a bye \u2013 AND assume that an event could only be dominated by no more than two nations under the current system, we\u2019re then looking at a possible displacement of \u201cother nation athletes\u201d of no more than four athletes per event. This would mean that at the end of the day, we lose a maximum of four contestants per event that may have been \u201clesser athletes\u201d from other nations. I think that\u2019s reasonable collateral to ensure that the FINALS are populated by the world\u2019s best athletes, or those competitors able to defeat them during the qualifying rounds. The potential change is small enough in number to almost be negligible. It also would have little to no effect on the amount of money necessary for the IAAF to spend on sending teams to the World Championships. At the same time, however, having the 10 best guaranteed to attend means that in the two semi system there should be a fight among the best in the world in each semi to make that all important final \u2013 and that the eight best should be fighting it out for the medals. And THAT is what we all really want to see! We still wouldn\u2019t have our Utopian World Championships, but we would have one in which all the main players would be in attendance \u2013 and that would be a huge step in the right direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-world-championships"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-co","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":406,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=406","url_meta":{"origin":768,"position":0},"title":"My Vision For the World Championships","author":"CHill","date":"October 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, I know it\u2019s October and we just had the opening ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games.\u00a0 But with the majority of top line athletes missing from the Commonwealth, my mind can\u2019t help but fast forward to the next gathering of the world\u2019s best athletes \u2013 the World Championships in Daegu.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=406#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"BERLIN - AUGUST 23: South Korean dancers perform during the Closing Ceremony during day nine of the 12th IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium on August 23, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose\/Bongarts\/Getty Images)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view1.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/6136639\/12th-iaaf-world-athletics\/12th-iaaf-world-athletics.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2367,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2367","url_meta":{"origin":768,"position":1},"title":"How About a Real World Championships?","author":"CHill","date":"January 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It's funny that one of the first things written about the sport in 2019 is about the addition of mixed relays to the World Relays event and to the World Championships. Funny, ha ha, in that they are being added ostensibly to make the events more interesting for \"fans\".\u00a0 How\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"World Championships\"","block_context":{"text":"World Championships","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=world-championships"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sprinter-Shadow_thumb-115x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2897,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2897","url_meta":{"origin":768,"position":2},"title":"Understand the Assignment","author":"CHill","date":"May 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The World Relays has come and gone, with a lot of \"unexpected\" finishes left in its wake. After watching the races and the comments made during and after the event, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people really don't understand the purpose of the meet - including\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"World Athletics\"","block_context":{"text":"World Athletics","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=world-athletics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/2A6245A3-AA6C-4120-AF41-52A4ACA1A12A-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=258","url_meta":{"origin":768,"position":3},"title":"Time to Tweak the World Championships","author":"CHill","date":"December 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember looking forward to the first World Championships back in 1983. We had boycotted the 1980 Olympics, so the last time the US had participated in a global championships had been the Games of 1976! So it had been an eternity for track fans salivating for a global event.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Track and Field: 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/5\/8\/3\/2\/Track_and_Field_3c02.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2938,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2938","url_meta":{"origin":768,"position":4},"title":"We Need More Relay Meets","author":"CHill","date":"November 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I have lots of issues with how the sport of track and field is run in the United States. Issues that I will be discussing during this upcoming winter in hopes of inspiring change. One thing that I do think we get right however, is the proliferation of relay events\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_5879-300x200.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2045,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2045","url_meta":{"origin":768,"position":5},"title":"My Thoughts on the World Relay Championships","author":"CHill","date":"June 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Focusing on coaching my high school kids, I missed discussing the early season to date, primarily the Diamond League and the World Relays Championship. That's a lot of action\/discussion, so will tackle one then the other and will start with the World Relays Championships since the subject has already come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Championships\"","block_context":{"text":"Championships","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=championships"},"img":{"alt_text":"Conway Tyson Pic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Conway-Tyson-Pic_thumb1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":775,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions\/775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}