Olympics legend says athletics need big stars to attract fans

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson says track and field’s lack of “best versus the best” battles on the calendar has contributed to declining interest in athletics.

The sport has been at a crossroads for a number of years. While it can claim the fastest man and woman in the world and remains the epicentre of the Olympic Games, it also feels too open, almost ignoring what it means to be one of the few truly able to call themselves among the best in favour of mass participation at the highest level.

 “When you say professional, it typically means the best of the best,” former sprinter Johnson tells City A.M. “And when you have a professional league, or circuit, or tour – look at golf or tennis – it is the best of the best.

“That is a hallmark of professional sport. It is one of the things from a fan perspective which is critical to have fans, to get the media interested and to then score media rights, which is significant revenue. 

“If fans typically look at professional sports as the best of the best then you’ve got a problem with track and field if it doesn’t have the best of the best, but a mixture of some of the best and some who are not the best.” British Athletics is reportedly in a state of financial disarray, despite selling more than 30,000 tickets for this summer’s Diamond League leg at the London Stadium, once home of the 2012 Olympics.

And the wider picture is one in which broadcast deals aren’t competitive with other sports, empty seats are commonplace at big meets, and potential consumers face unprecedented competition for attention in what is a congested market.

“We’ve been having this conversation and asking this question for 20 years,” says the 55-year-old Texan. “There’s a sense that it is a new problem, which would also give a flawed sense that there’s a quick and easy solution.

“These were problems when I was competing. Track and field has not changed in 30-plus years and the world has simply moved by it.

“When I was competing it was already the model that whoever showed up was whoever showed up, you were not forced to run against the best.