Bangkok, Thailand, August 10, 2020: The President of the Olympic Council of Asia, HE Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, opened an Asian Athletics Association (AAA) on-line seminar on Monday afternoon.
The seminar, entitled “Athletics in the Eyes of the Media”, was conducted by the AAA out of Bangkok, Thailand and featured opening addresses by AAA President Gen. Dahlan Al Hamad of Qatar and also by World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe.
Sheikh Ahmad spoke of the challenges that lay ahead for track and field in particular and for the sports movement in general due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the priority for the media, broadcasting and marketing partners was to focus on athletes, youth and the audience. This would ensure the success of the sport in the future, he said.
“Let us be positive; let us work together; let us have better communication and work to see what are the needs for the future,” said Sheikh Ahmad. “With our history and experience we can build our future together.”
Sheikh Ahmad said the coronavirus pandemic had caused a lot of damage economically, socially and also to the sports world and that everyone involved in the sport, including the media, needed to build a new future, from next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo through to 2030.
The OCA President praised the role of World Athletics President Lord Coe over the past five years in overcoming a lot of problems thanks to his leadership and the solidarity in the track and field movement, and that the time was right for the outstanding athletic performances to now dominate the headlines as opposed to the negative aspects of the sport in the recent past.
He also said that, due to the one-year postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and the subsequent changes in the sports calendar around the world, athletes needed time to adapt their schedule and training programmes in order to produce their best performance at the right time.
Regarding media, Sheikh Ahmad said there was now big competition between traditional media and broadcasting and the new digital and social media and this required communication and cooperation at all levels to produce the best results in terms of coverage.
He thanked AAA President Gen. Dahlan Al Hamad for inviting him to join the media seminar and congratulated him on this important initiative.
In his opening remarks, Gen. Dahlan spoke of the changing trends in media, the AAA activities during the pandemic to keep athletics in the news, development plans and also the presence of women in sport, from the track to administration to the board room.
Lord Coe, who was recently elected IOC Member, spoke of the ingenuity and creativity of athletes and national federations during the pandemic in engaging fans around the world.
Addressing the members of the media around Asia watching the seminar, Lord Coe spoke about the importance of personal contacts in the media industry. He added that this year marked 40 years since his first Olympic appearance at Moscow in 1980 but noted that, seven years before Moscow, his relationship with media began at the local level in Sheffield, UK; that relationship had remained strong long after his Olympic Games successes, thanks to the media interest when he was an up and coming middle distance runner, he said.
The AAA media seminar included presentations from communications and broadcasting executives from World Athletics.
