World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe believes the dominance of American athletes in Paris can bring the sport out of the shadows in the United States as the country builds towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
With one full day of the track and field programme remaining, the United States is on course for a record medal haul, leading the standings with 11 golds, 10 silvers and eight bronze for 29 medals in total.
Coe says Paris Olympics stars such as sprinter Noah Lyles, 400m hurdles gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and shot-putter Ryan Crouser are part of a rare “golden generation” of American athletes.
But the challenge, Coe said, is exploiting that rich seam of talent to boost the profile of athletics in the US, where it remains a foothill in a sporting landscape dominated by the NBA and National Football League.
Coe cited the “crazy paradox” that US track and field stars were more likely to be mobbed in Europe, but were “still in relative anonymity in their hometowns”.
“That’s a disconnect that we all have a challenge with between now and 2028,” Coe told reporters. “I was talking about that to both USA Track and Field and the USOPC (United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee).
“You know, all three of us are going to have to work hard on that space because if it was any other nation on the planet, athletics would be (the USA’s) national sport.”
Coe said he hoped US success in Paris would catapult athletics into the mainstream in the way that Britain’s medal haul at the 2008 Beijing Games laid the foundation for the host nation’s successful 2012 Olympics.
Britain finished fourth in the medal table in Beijing with 51 medals, including 19 golds, and improved that tally to 65 four years later, with 29 golds.
“Britain won a sackful of medals, it sort of took you out of the budget arguments, and people just went ‘Oh my God, bring this on’,” said Coe, who chaired the organising committee for the 2012 Olympics.
“I’m hoping that people in America are sensing that in track and field you’ve got this golden generation.
“It’s fantastic because in the past, you talked about Carl (Lewis), you talked about Michael (Johnson), but they were very much magnesium flares in that generation. Now you’re looking at a bandwidth of performers.”
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