World Championship Athletics

[Gerald Genta]

Has anyone else been watching the athletics? Its def been overshadowed by the rugby world cup but I've enjyed wathcing the rugby all morning and then switching over to the atheletics for the afternoon / evening. Top weekend of sport.

However one thing I have noticed is how empty the stadium consistently is. It's a real shame and feel sorry for the athletes who deserve an audience. The stadium for the mens 100m final, traditionally the pinnacle event was half empty. It was virtually completely empty for the womens final. Very disappointing. Residents of Doha are clealy not fans of athletics.

[walkerwek1958]

Agreed, the empty stadium is a disappointment, I question the logic of taking the event to Doha. As an ex runner I still watch and enjoy athletics and I like to see British success, but I can’t see GB getting many medals this time around.

As for the rugby world cup, I’ve watched bits, but as a dyed in the wool Rugby League fan I don’t find Union as entertaining. I watched Toulouse v Featherstone on Sky earlier this evening and thoroughly enjoyed it, League isn’t as entertaining as it once was but I still enjoy watching.

I’ll watch some if the rugby world cup matches when the knockout stages are reached, that’s when it gets interesting.

[Andyg156]

Has anyone else been watching the athletics? Its def been overshadowed by the rugby world cup but I've enjyed wathcing the rugby all morning and then switching over to the atheletics for the afternoon / evening. Top weekend of sport.

However one thing I have noticed is how empty the stadium consistently is. It's a real shame and feel sorry for the athletes who deserve an audience. The stadium for the mens 100m final, traditionally the pinnacle event was half empty. It was virtually completely empty for the womens final. Very disappointing. Residents of Doha are clealy not fans of athletics.

I used to enjoy drinking in the ex pat doha rugby club bar back in 2000. I know the city has developed alot since then. But area was mainly made up of Bangladeshis manual workers, cleaners, chefs, taxi drivers etc and they where usually found on waste ground playing cricket using a box for stumps.
Qatar just throws money to get international recognition. Think their first ever Olympic medalist in athletics was paid to switch nationalities.


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[thieuster]

I watched it last night, hoping for Dafne Schippers doing the 100m finals. A small injury prevented her from starting. All's focussed on the 200m.

The new item 4x400 Mixed Relay (2 male + 2 female runners per team) is great! Teams are allowed to mix the start order of the team members. Due to the speed difference between men and women running simultaneously, it causes a sort of controlled chaos on the track about who's in front and that's wonderful to watch who's going to win in the end. Most teams use the man - woman - woman - man sequence, but one team did a man - woman - man - woman sequence. The lady running the last stretch was way ahead of 7 men. Only in the last 50m or so, she was overtaken. An item worth watching!

Menno

[walkerwek1958]

Disappointed for Dafne to miss the 100m final, she’s a popular athlete who always speaks well when interviewed. Hope she competes in the 200, but as a Brit I’ll be rooting for Dina Asher-Smith, who is our best hope for a gold medal in these championships.

Not sure about the mixed relay, it’s got novelty value and it’s entertaining, but I can’t see the top 400 metre athletes getting involved, it’s too many races if they also contest the individual 400m and the conventional 4x400. USA will always be strong in a mixed relay because they have strength in depth in the 400m that other countries lack.

[Gerald Genta]

Not a fan of the mixed relay, all it does is highlight the vast difference in performance between men and women. Not sure why this event is taking place now and not at the end of the championships like the rest of the relays. Individuals have to compete in the 400m the day after the finals of the mixed relay so wont be as fresh and therefore at a disadvantage.

[Gerald Genta]

I watched it last night, hoping for Dafne Schippers doing the 100m finals. A small injury prevented her from starting. All's focussed on the 200m.

The new item 4x400 Mixed Relay (2 male + 2 female runners per team) is great! Teams are allowed to mix the start order of the team members. Due to the speed difference between men and women running simultaneously, it causes a sort of controlled chaos on the track about who's in front and that's wonderful to watch who's going to win in the end. Most teams use the man - woman - woman - man sequence, but one team did a man - woman - man - woman sequence. The lady running the last stretch was way ahead of 7 men. Only in the last 50m or so, she was overtaken. An item worth watching!

Menno

Except for the USA man running the final leg who had caught her within about 150m, really was quite surprising the speed at which he went past

[Mr Pointy]

It has always been known that there wouldn't be any crowds in Doha; it's exactly the same for the MotoGP & the tennis.

You will never, ever see a Qatari in the auditorium; the only place they would ever consider going is an executive box for the open or closing ceremony. The only reason they want these events is to show off & impress other states & since Qatar fell out with the other Gulf states there isn't anyone to show off to.

If the local natives aren't going that leaves the expats as potential attendees; most of these are Bangladeshi & Pakistani building workers who could no more go than fly to the moon. That just leaves the few hundred thousand middle class expats. I watched the women's 200m final last night & noticed it was run at 23:30 on a work week evening. Given that everyone had to be at work next morning & get the kids off to school it's totally predictable that almost no-one would be sitting in the arena.

The football World Cup in 2022 will be interesting: I suspect that the stadiums will be just as empty.

[alanm_3]

Given the amount of ex-pats from the Indian sub-continent, the only sporting events that can generate huge local interest are cricket matches.

[Rod]

I've been watching it. Fantastic stadium and light show but where are the fans? The stadium almost empty for the 100mtrs finals. Main interest is the men's javelin on the 5/6th October, ( I was a pretty decent thrower once) hope it's televised.
I enjoy going up to Gateshead Stadium for any athletic events and that's usually well attended and a great day out.