Michael Johnson says ‘It’s time to simplify athletics – get rid of events that people don’t watch’

Dude that's perfect, except there should be a hard XC/steeple in there.

On second thought no, that should go in some pentathlon thing.

You nailed it. Big ups

Don't get rid of the 200, 400 hurdles or the 800, these events seem to be a sweet spot for white runners, if those events are discontinued we can only win the obese events.....

Pretty close to the other guy's, with 400/1500 instead of just 1000.

I like the other guy's a bit better because you could run the hep guys at the same time as the individual events.

But I think you guys are really on to something here.

Randy Wholeway wrote:

Personally, I have no interest in hurdles or any field event. And you have to be mentally deranged to watch a 10,000 on a track.

I cannot believe that I am seeing this at letsrun.

Merging the 10k and 5k would be fine, but make it the 10 k not the 8 k, same test of fitness. The 2 mile is a better counterpart to the 10k than the 5 k because it isn't metric and a different runner might be better at one. 3k is also good, for the metric users and because it's slightly faster.

The hammer and the discus need to stay at all costs. LIke Olympic wrestling they are worthy tests of might and must stay in athletics even if people don't watch, so the pursuit remains legitimate.

Terri Alden wrote:

Michael Johnson was juiced up to his eyeballs. Ok anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, stimulants and epogen products.

F--- him. Goddam hypocrite a-hole.

Agree. 200m & 400m should be the first to go.

run by nature wrote:

What events would get rid of, if any?

What events was he get rid of?

Get rid of sex/age categories.

For track and field have one throwing event, one jumping event, and one running event.

The actual competition should follow the form of cross fit where you draw lots from the current track and field events to decide what the throwing, jumping, and running events are in the competition.

Outside of this have an ultra/trail race as an open competition.

Introduce IAAF labor camps of 5 years duration minumum developing some poor country's infrastructure for any atheltes caught infusing themselves or doping (along with their coaches and managers and any lawyers trying to defend them).

Other sports should also be forced to comply with swimming getting rid of non freestyle events and rowing and boxing getting rid of weight categories etc etc.

Thomas Wastolife wrote:

this johnson quote is near the top of a very, very long list of hair-brained ideas from a former elite given mainstream attention because people continue to foolishly associate speed with running acumen/general intelligence.

just because you were born with the genetics to run fast, does not automatically mean that you know more about running than anyone else.

MJ is a very smart businessman (minority owner of the Mavs, successful pro sports training company) and astute commentator. He has been known his entire career as a master technician. He was the top long sprinter in the world for over a decade. None of those things happened by accident or pure genetics. Give the man his due.

In terms of improving athletics the devil is in the details, but most could agree eliminating racewalking, one flat distance race, one throw, and one jump would streamline championship meets while preserving the athletic variety that is essential to track and field.

I just wonder why anyone cares whether its popular or not?

More events, more participants.

Reduce the events and there will be way less people turning up.

Someone said its the sweet spot for whites? Lets be straight, if there were no whites, who would pay the entry fees, or be targets for advertising.

Bring Back the Mile!

TrackCoach wrote:

Sorry MJ but the 200m would be one of my events to cut, including the 400h and 10k.

Change the 1500 to 1600 and the 5k to an 8k

Drop the TJ, hammer and race walk

Personally, I don't want to see any events dropped, in fact, I could go for more events like the SHR, DMR and 200m hurdles for example.

Johnson's comments are just dumb.

EVERYTHING in track is an event that MOST people don't watch and won't ever watch. Maybe some people in the general public will watch the sprints and relays in the Olympics every 4 years, if that's what's on TV instead of swimming, gymnastics or beach volleyball, but that's the extent of public interest in watching track.

So what? The general public is not watching the huge majority of sporting events except some football (American in the US, soccer elsewhere), maybe basketball, maybe baseball, maybe cricket if you're South Asian, etc. The mass market for sports that once existed when there were few entertainment options and limited TV channels is gone and will never come back.

Track needs to embrace track for TRACK FANS, not expect casual viewers to flip through channels on a Saturday and want to watch track.

For TRACK FANS, the events are fine the way they are. The only exception I'd say is race walking, which even I won't watch, but it's only televised for the Olympics and World Championships, so I don't think it affects the popularity of track one way or the other.

What would actually help if for the broadcasters to realize that they are already broadcasting to TRACK FANS. Get more knowledgeable people as announcers and don't dumb it down. Football announcers never explain what a 1st down is and baseball announcers never explain balls and strikes. That's how you keep track fans as viewers, not by dumbing it down for people who aren't watching to begin with.

sdfasdfds wrote:

athletics should be just the following:

100m

400m

800m

1500m

10000m (bathroom break)

marathon

reasoning:

200m - no real difference between 100 and 200

3000m - everybody hates this. people usually run the 1500 or the 5000

5000m - the reason why i kill this event off instead of 10000m is because i killed off the half marathon and the 10000 sounds like a good middle ground between 1500 and marathon.

half marathon - aka weak man's marathon

most people can't relate to hurdles and steeplechase so kill those too.

we should save a few field events just so viewers don't get bored while watching the 10000m.

You claim that the 100 and 200 are too close of events, yet you keep the 800. very close to both the 400 and 1500 (more the 400 imo). Plus the only difference between the marathon and the 10k is that the marathon is run on the road.

0Looks like MJ would like athletics at the Olympics and Worlds reduced to a couple of days of competition instead of the 10-day celebration the sport experienced recently in London. He couldn't stand sitting in that BBC booth again for 10 straight days. So grant him his wish and separate sprints from distance and field events at championships. Make them different sports as happens with gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics or water sports such as swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming.

So a dream championship for him should be:

Day 1: Heats for 100m, 200m, 400m, 110m H, 400m H

Day 2: Finals for 100m, 200m, 400m, 110m H, 400m H, 4 X 100m relay and 4 X 400m relay.

Day 3: Rest day. MJ and his crew pack their bags and go back to making money or whatever it is that they do.

Day 4: Qualifications for field events

Day 5: Finals for field events

Day 6: Rest day as field events nuts move on.

Day 7 - 12: Distance

Or better to have first half of the championships dedicated to sprints and second half to distance events with a view to eventually separating the sports so they can flourish on their own.

Turd Burglar wrote:

100

1,000

10,000 or Marathon

Shot

Javelin

Long jump

High jump

Heptathlon of 7 individual events above

4x400

Michael Johnson would miss out on an individual medal.

All the idiots calling to eliminate the 10k should realize that far and away the most popular running event in the world is the 10K. Millions of fat people run them every year. That's the base for an audience. No one appreciates a sport more than those who have tried it.

If grand tour cycling can have a TV audience, so can 10K races. The key is good commentators. Also probably road races attract more interest than track races.

Half marathon works too.

Track needs teams.

TrackCoach wrote:

TrackCoach wrote:

Sorry MJ but the 200m would be one of my events to cut, including the 400h and 10k.

Change the 1500 to 1600 and the 5k to an 8k

Drop the TJ, hammer and race walk

Personally, I don't want to see any events dropped, in fact, I could go for more events like the SHR, DMR and 200m hurdles for example.

SHR, DMR?

I don't know about adding more short events but athletics should only cut events if cycling and swimming does the same. Cycling also has bmxing now.

This is the correct answer, of course. Any mass audience that track and field ever had is gone and is not coming back.