World Athletics Championships: IAAF 'disappointed' by small crowds, says chief ePosted by poch1991@jourrapide.com on October 1st, 2019 The IAAF is "disappointed" by the small crowds at the World Championships in Doha but believes athletes are still enjoying a "positive experience", says its chief executive Jon Ridgeon. Just 13,288 people watched Friday's session at the Khalifa International Stadium and attendances dwindled over the following two days. Denise Lewis is among several current and former athletes to comment, saying it was "absolutely shocking". "We want bigger crowds," said Ridgeon. "Rest assured we are working really hard with the local organising committee to generate bigger crowds." Speaking on BBC Two, he added: "I think one of the biggest challenges has been, if you look back to a couple of days ago, we did actually fill 65-70% of those available seats, but by the time the big finals came along later in the evening, actually a lot of the audience had gone home because the working day starts early the next morning. "When you judge a championship, clearly the size of the audience and the atmosphere created is one really important element, but there are other elements as well, and I think we can all agree the athletics has been stunning." Like it? Share it! More by this author |