Empty seats and ghostly silence have been the sad feature of these world championships – it is a PR disaster for the sport
Moments after the greatest 10.83 seconds of her life, Dina Asher‑Smith grabbed a union flag from her mother, Julie, and began a lap of honour to celebrate her world championship 100m silver medal. But as she trotted round the 40,000‑seat Khalifa International Stadium all that greeted her were banks of empty seats and a ghostly silence.
At a stretch there were 1,000 people watching, and most of them were journalists tapping away to deadline. As Asher-Smith’s mother later tweeted, she has seen more spectators at England Athletics’ age group championships in Bedford.
Written by Sean Ingle in Doha
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/sep/30/doha-world-athletics-championships-crowds-iaaf under the title “Dire in Doha: world championships ‘catastrophe’ leaves athletics reeling | Sean Ingle”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
