Congress to consider draft blueprint for future By John Mehaffey
PARIS, Aug 19 (Reuters) - A draft plan for the development of the premier sport of the Olympic Games will be presented to a two-day congress of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) opening on Wednesday. With track and field struggling to maintain its place in a competitive market place, IAAF president Lamine Diack will table a 'World Athletics Plan' to the congress, which is meeting before the start of the world championships on Saturday. The document has been prepared by a Lausanne-based sports management body called TSE, which has consulted people at all levels of the sport. Although around 200 member federations are expected to field teams in Paris, the world governing body is increasingly concerned that athletics has become effectively European based. Six of the past eight world championships have been staged in Europe with Paris hosting the ninth and initial host Helsinki scheduled to stage the 2005 edition. Athletics attracts only minimal attention in the United States outside Olympic years and the world's leading track and field nation has yet to host a world championships. "We are looking at a crossroads for the sport," said one IAAF official. "Are we really a European sport pretending to be a global one?" Some of the issues to be addressed are the difficulties in keeping children interested in athletics and integrating highly successful road races such as the London marathon into the sport's overall marketing structure. UNWELCOME One potentially unwelcome development, which will not be raised at the congress, is the decision of two Kenyan runners to change their nationality in order to earn more cash. At last Friday's Zurich grand prix Saif Saeed Shaheen, formerly known as Stephen Cherono, set a season's best in the 3,000 metres steeplechase running for his adopted country Qatar. The Commonwealth champion said money had been the motive. "Qatar will pay $1,000 every month, even after my retirement," he said. "In Kenya there is nothing like this." Another former Kenyan, Albert Chepkurui, finished fifth in the 5,000 in Zurich under his new name of Ahmad Hassan Abdullah. IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai told reporters after a meeting on Monday that several council members had expressed concern at the pair's decision to switch nationality. But he said IAAF rules had been observed and the issue would not be put to this year's congress. "Siphoning off athletes to other countries...there is a concern that this is not a good thing," he said. Twice Olympic 1,500 metres champion Seb Coe and leading athletes' agent Jos Hermens will be standing for one of the 27 elected council posts on Wednesday. Coe is likely to succeed another Briton, honorary treasurer Robert Stinson who is standing down after 19 years on the IAAF's ruling body. 08/19/03 06:12 ET Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com