World athletics chief speaks highly of China

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With the IAAF World Championships taking place in London, world athletics chief Sebastian Coe has said he is pleased by the development of the sport in China.

"I was really impressed, for instance, with the under-18 team that I saw in Nairobi at our world championships there [. They were] second on the medals table… I think that it is an interesting combination of young talent coming through, sometimes in events and disciplines that we would not have seen 10 or 12 years ago," Coe told CGTN.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe speaks to CGTN. /CGTN Photo‍

He said, "I think Chinese coaching has dramatically improved and I am really pleased because China is a really important market for us – for broadcast, for potential sponsors and a large population that we want to fall in love with athletics. So I think we are all moving in the right direction.”

Coe also stressed the importance of star athletes in inspiring people to take to the track, as Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang did when he dominated his sport in the mid-2000s, going into the Beijing Olympics.

"Every sport needs its Pied Piper. And that is really important. You need people to get excited about great figures and Liu Xiang was that figure in the sport at the time when people really did suddenly become interested," Coe said.

Screenshot of Chinese athlete Liu Xiang competing in the Athens Olympics in 2004. /CGTN Photo

"I remember being with him in Nanjing in the Youth Olympic Games. We had a kids’ athletics program that he was engaged in. He is a huge, huge figure in the lives of young people. Every sport needs more of them.”

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