Want to be like Jamaica, Kenya? Promote athletics in schools: Sebastian Coe
"India should promote track and field sport at the school level if it wants to excel at the international stage. Not only at the school level, but at the college level too. The sport should compulsorily become part of the physical education," said Coe, who chose India for his first official visit to a member country after assuming office in August.
World athletics body IAAF chief Sebastian Coe urged the Indian athletes to learn from countries like Jamaica and Kenya, who have excelled at world stage.
On one hand, small nations like Kenya, Ethiopia and Jamaica excelled at the World Championships – winning 14 gold medals between them in Beijing recently – while on the other, India has just one long jump medal to show (Anju Bobby George in 2003).
Coe suggested a solution to this problem.
"India should promote track and field sport at the school level if it wants to excel at the international stage. Not only at the school level, but at the college level too. The sport should compulsorily become part of the physical education," said Coe, who chose India for his first official visit to a member country after assuming office in August.
"I have visited Jamaica many times. During one of my visits, I saw some 50,000 people watching school and college level championships there. One of the things that I want to do as IAAF president is to sign Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with education ministers of countries to include track and field programmes in schools," the Briton added.
Coe, who is on a two-day visit to India, attended the executive committee meeting of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and met Indian and other South Asian sports officials on Monday.
Talking about Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, who successfully fought her case at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that declared the IAAF's hyperandrogenism policy void, Coe said the federation's medical commission is preparing a report on it.
"This is something which I have already discussed with our medical commission. It's a complicated set of challenges with no swift or easy answers," he said.
Dutee was barred from competing in female category after she was found to have excessive level of testosterone.