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The Electronic Telegraph
Monday 5 May 2003
Professionals led by amateurs
By Michael Johnson
Athletics, the sport I love, is struggling once again and, over the past
several years, has continued to be in steady decline. In the United States,
which is one of the most important markets in the world, athletics
consistently ranks behind sports that pale in comparison when it comes
to
excitement, action, and competition.
This low profile contributes to a lack of sponsors and television coverage.
Those two feed off one another and are essential to the survival of any
sport. There have been all kinds of excuses for this situation, but the
blame lies with the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The IAAF are charged with promoting the sport and ensuring its survival,
which means making it exciting for current fans but also making sure it
gains new fans.
Promoting the sport means making it appealing for television networks
and
sponsors. Promoting the sport means making events newsworthy and easy
for
the print media to cover. The IAAF have done a poor job promoting the
sport
for years.
One of the problems is that athletics has struggled to make the full
transition from what was once an amateur concern into the professional
sport
that it is today.
From the beginning of my professional career in athletics right up to
the
end, I was constantly asked questions like: "How do you make money
in
athletics?',' and "Can you compete in the Olympics and still make
money?"
I was asked these questions by people who saw the basketball player,
Michael
Jordan, for many years the highest-paid athlete in all sports, represent
the
USA at the 1992 Olympic Games. I was fortunate to have benefited financially
in a big way from my athletics career, and so have many other athletes.
There is a secrecy about track athletes' pay that started in Seventies,
when
athletes were not allowed to profit from their athletic talent. This
atmosphere still exists today, although it has loosened up somewhat in
the
past few years, but it does not exist in other sports. The salaries for
other sports are published in sports dailies in the US and are often the
subject of sport talk shows.
Unfortunately, no matter how talented an athlete is, today's society
equates
high pay with success and therefore they look on those who earn big salaries
as the best. With no knowledge of track and field athletes' pay, people
generally assume these athletes are amateurs, which unfortunately suggests
"less than professional".
And the IAAF have done little over the years to identify the problems
of the
sport and make the changes necessary to keep up with popular culture.
I
realised several years ago while watching the movie Chariots of Fire that
the sport has changed little since Eric Liddell's incredible performance
at
the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Athletes are still required to use safety pins to attach an awkward paper
number to their vests, even though the number is not necessarily needed
to
identify them anymore. Athletes are limited when it comes to sponsorship
opportunities. IAAF rules severely limit the number of sponsors and the
size
of the sponsors' logo. At every IAAF World Championships, each athlete
has
to have his bag searched, not for weapons, but for any article of clothing
or product with the logo of any company on it, other than the logo of
their
official team uniform. If an article is found, it is confiscated for the
athlete to pick up later, or tape is placed over the company logo or name.
I was fortunate to make it to the medal podium quite a few times in my
career and I remember being advised by a friend that, while he understood
that sponsors were important, he thought the large TDK bib pinned to the
front of my warm-up jacket while on the podium was tacky and I shouldn't
wear it.
I explained to him that TDK were not one of my sponsors and I received
no
money from them. They were an IAAF sponsor and there was a rule that any
athlete reaching the podium must wear it. He was absolutely flabbergasted
and asked what would happen if I was sponsored by Maxell, or any other
competitor of TDK.
I replied that that was most likely why I wasn't, and probably never
would
be, sponsored by any competitors of TDK. The IAAF have chosen to ignore
the
fact that their rules limit the ability of athletes to get their own
sponsors. These rules have helped the organisation gain more sponsors
for
the IAAF and helped them keep amateur-type control over athletes, who
are
professionals.
Primo Nebiolo was the president of the IAAF for many years and most of
the
rules and structure of the IAAF can be attributed to his leadership. While
I
had the pleasure of getting to know Dr Nebiolo and appreciated his
leadership in bringing the sport into professionalism in 1982, it was
always
obvious to me that he had set up this organisation to be run by him, and
only him.
Unfortunately, Dr Nebiolo passed away in 1999 and the IAAF have struggled
to
move forward since then. Primo Nebiolo ruled athletics with an almost
dictator-like attitude that many saw as unfair and sometimes even
underhanded.
But I, for one, would trade Dr Nebiolo and his leadership for the lack
of
leadership that exists right now with the IAAF.
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