Abu Dhabi: American legend and multi-world record holder Edwin Moses has endorsed the cause for change in the world of track and field in an attempt to recapture its glory days.
"But to be honest, I think track and field was better in my day than what it is today. It was much more popular. I was much more widely watched on tele-vision and we had many more personalities. Today you can name two or three or four people. But when I was growing up you could name 20 stars. And everybody knew who they were," Moses told Gulf News on the sidelines of yesterday's Laureus Awards here.
"I think the slack or disinterest in athletics has got a lot to do with the personality of the athletes themselves. They do not engage with the public anymore as much as we did," Moses added.
Tense times
"When I was running the Cold War was on. There was East and West Germany or rivalry between Russia and the US. In turn, people all over the world were watching this tension taking place in the political world sort of spilling out on the sports field.
"That added drama to every event right from the Olympic Games to a World Championships. People tuned in to see what would happen on the field," Moses said.
"Ultimately what needs to be changed in athletics has to come from the governing body. I cannot decide that. But I think there was a lot more to offer in track and field in my day than what we have athletes doing today," he said.
Moses had an illustrious career in track and field winning gold medals at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals (122 consecutive races) and set the world record in the 400 metres hurdles four times. "Maybe I have been lucky to be a world-class athlete or maybe we were at the right place at the right time and then put in the hard work to be where we are," he said.
Marketing strategy
"But now our sport is more of a marketing strategy. You have a bunch of athletes wearing Nike or adidas or Reebok and that is how the athletes are identified. There tension between the athletes is missing. And I suppose that is what sport is all about," Moses observed.
"Perhaps, one of the main reasons due to the lack of appeal for track and field sport today is the missing rivalry between modern-day athletes."
In 2000, he was elected the first Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, a position he still holds.
"We have people behind us who have helped and I feel so lucky. But running was not my whole life… it was only part of it. And that was also helpful in making the transition to Laureus," he said.
