IAAF adopts plan to boost popularity

PARIS (AP) -- Track & field's world governing body announced a nine-year plan Thursday to boost the sport's global popularity as it struggles to compete for attention and sponsorship outside Olympic years.

IAAF president Lamine Diack said he hopes athletics will be in a position "to remain the No. 1 sport of individuals" in 2012, coinciding with the centenary of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The initiative won overwhelming support on the second day of the IAAF Congress, meeting ahead of the World Championships starting Saturday at the Stade de France.

Although athletics is the centerpiece of the Summer Olympics, the sport has a toug time retaining its appeal during the years between the games. Its mass appeal has come under pressure from soccer, basketball and other sports.

One of the key points of the project is to change the international competition calendar to make sure athletics remains a more prominent feature throughout the year.

Another challenge is to make sure the sport moves beyond its European power base and spreads throughout the world. All of the IAAF's elite Golden League meets are currently held in Europe.

"We need much more of a geographical spread," said Britain's Sebastian Coe, the former middle distance great and double Olympic champion who was elected onto the IAAF's ruling council Wednesday. "The sport is growing in some places but is stagnant in others."

The IAAF want to bring athletics back to a central role in school sports.

When Diack grew up in Senegal half a century ago, "athletics was then part of every small boy's and girl's curriculum -- no different to mathematics or English," he said.

Now, in many wealthy nations, sports is but a small part of the school schedule and society has seen a major increase in such diseases as child obesity.

"We are an antidote to that," said Craig Masback, CEO of USA Track & Field. "Our greatest asset is our school system."

Although the plan was big on visions and commitment, it offered few practical proposals at this stage.

"There is a big challenge to implement it," Masback said.

The IAAF also cited a need to make the sport more spectator-friendly so it can compete with other sports for sponsorship.

Diack called for a "fundamental review" of the events calendar and a study of what other sports have done for promotional purposes. Part of the idea is to market the sport's champions better.

"The stars should bring more interest to our sport," said six-time world pole vault champion Sergei Bubka, who is also on the IAAF Council. "We are like shareholders together and we have to make it happen."

Even though athletics is essentially an individual sport, the IAAF project calls for the development of a competition based on "nations" results.