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IAAF boss says world could learn from Jamaica
BY DANIA BOGLE Observer writer
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
AS the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) prepares to celebrate the centenary of the Boys and Girls Athletic Championships, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president, Lamine Diack, says this is where the future of the sport rests.
"The future of our sport is in the schools. If you don't develop the sport in the schools we are dead, we have no chance to build up a great sport," Diack told the Observer.
DIACK... you give the possibility to youngsters to do track and field and this is the right way and we have to learn this from your system
DIACK... you give the possibility to youngsters to do track and field and this is the right way and we have to learn this from your system
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"In the schools you give the opportunity to any youngster to demonstrate that he can be a good runner, a good jumper, a good thrower," stated Diack, who has been at the helm of world track and field for over a decade.
The Senegalese former footballer and long jumper cited his own experiences as example.
"I discovered very young that I could be a good long jumper, but I only started jumping when I was 22. I jumped five years, but I think if I had started at 16 or 17, possibly by now, I would have jumped over eight metres and the world record is 8.13m," Diack said.
The Boys and Girls Championships has been a breeding ground for some of the Jamaica's most successful athletes.
The most recent and arguably most notable athlete to emerge from 'Champs' is 100m and 200m world record holder, Usain Bolt.
In the 400m, the double World and Olympic Champion still holds a record at the annual schools event.
Other Olympic and World Championships gold medallists who starred as high school track and field athletes include Melaine Walker and Veronica Campbell-Brown.
Other development meets are also held each weekend for at least four months of the year.
"They have to look to you (Jamaica)," Diack said. "You give the possibility to youngsters to do track and field and this is the right way and we have to learn this from your system."
Diack also highlighted the CARIFTA Championships, the region's athletics championships for Under-20 athletes, as another place where talent could be spotted and said he had consistently encouraged Council Members of the sport's world governing body to attend the annual event.
"CARIFTA is a wonderful experience on what we can do with the youth," he said. "I tell them you have to go and learn on what you can do with the sprinting events."
"I think the experience must be looked at by all our federations who want to put track and field in the system, they have to learn from you," Diack reiterated
BY DANIA BOGLE Observer writer
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
AS the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) prepares to celebrate the centenary of the Boys and Girls Athletic Championships, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president, Lamine Diack, says this is where the future of the sport rests.
"The future of our sport is in the schools. If you don't develop the sport in the schools we are dead, we have no chance to build up a great sport," Diack told the Observer.
DIACK... you give the possibility to youngsters to do track and field and this is the right way and we have to learn this from your system
DIACK... you give the possibility to youngsters to do track and field and this is the right way and we have to learn this from your system 1/1 "In the schools you give the opportunity to any youngster to demonstrate that he can be a good runner, a good jumper, a good thrower," stated Diack, who has been at the helm of world track and field for over a decade.
The Senegalese former footballer and long jumper cited his own experiences as example.
"I discovered very young that I could be a good long jumper, but I only started jumping when I was 22. I jumped five years, but I think if I had started at 16 or 17, possibly by now, I would have jumped over eight metres and the world record is 8.13m," Diack said.
The Boys and Girls Championships has been a breeding ground for some of the Jamaica's most successful athletes.
The most recent and arguably most notable athlete to emerge from 'Champs' is 100m and 200m world record holder, Usain Bolt.
In the 400m, the double World and Olympic Champion still holds a record at the annual schools event.
Other Olympic and World Championships gold medallists who starred as high school track and field athletes include Melaine Walker and Veronica Campbell-Brown.
Other development meets are also held each weekend for at least four months of the year.
"They have to look to you (Jamaica)," Diack said. "You give the possibility to youngsters to do track and field and this is the right way and we have to learn this from your system."
Diack also highlighted the CARIFTA Championships, the region's athletics championships for Under-20 athletes, as another place where talent could be spotted and said he had consistently encouraged Council Members of the sport's world governing body to attend the annual event.
"CARIFTA is a wonderful experience on what we can do with the youth," he said. "I tell them you have to go and learn on what you can do with the sprinting events."
"I think the experience must be looked at by all our federations who want to put track and field in the system, they have to learn from you," Diack reiterated
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