World Athletics president Sebastian Coe on Thursday hailed the impact that Netflix docu-series “Sprint” has had, saying it showcased the “universality” of track and field.
Athletics as a sport has found itself, at times, struggling against the multitude of other sports and activities on offer.
Netflix series showcasing Formula One, golf and tennis have proved very popular and “Sprint” — featuring six episodes based around sprinting, with last year’s world championships in Budapest as the backdrop — has also been a success.
“The feedback’s been fantastic wherever I’ve gone, from people that are interested in the sport or people who I think have now been introduced to a sport they had little or no understanding of it. It’s been terrific,” Coe said on the opening day of athletics at the Paris Olympics.
The series, Coe added, was currently the number one viewed Netflix offering in sport.
“And there will be other seasons,” he said, with the second series currently being filmed with the Paris Games as the backdrop.
“Our challenge, of course, is to make sure that we build on the excitement that we’ve created, but there’s no doubt I’ve spoken to people who probably would have never watched athletics before who suddenly realise actually it’s quite an interesting sport.”
Coe talked up the “universality” of the series, saying “some of the sports that are being featured are quite monocultural”.
The Budapest world championships featured in the series saw athletes from 46 countries win medals, while athletes from 75 countries secured top-eight places — and some countries for the very first time.
There are no other sports that could offer up that wide ranging number of different medallists.
It is fair to say athletics has missed the presence of a big-name pull and crowd pleaser like Jamaican Usain Bolt, whose performances and charisma guaranteed maximum exposure and packed stands wherever he opted to compete.
But “Sprint” has introduced a new generation to the likes of US sprint duo Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson — two outspoken personalities who will look to build on their increased fame by medalling at the Paris Olympics.
World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon called the series “wonderful”, hinting that other events could feature.
“It’s really engaging. Clearly everyone gets being the fastest man or woman in the world is pretty sexy,” Ridgeon said.
“But we’ve got a wonderful array of disciplines and wouldn’t it be great to actually feature some other disciplines going forward,” he said.
“Those discussions are going on and not just with Netflix. We’ve got other broadcast partners that have seen the power of this and actually are interested in the genre as well, which works for us because clearly we hope we can engage with a different, younger, more occasional audience.”
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