This friday the IAAF introduced a new qualification system for next World and Olympics Games championships, based on ATP and WTA ranking model.
As we know to participate to an athletics championship like the Worlds or Olympics, athletes have to achieved qualifying standard and conditions. Performances must be achieved during competitions organized or sanctioned by the #IAAF, its Area Associations or its National Member Federations. Thus, results achieved at other competitions must be certified by the National Federation of the country in which the competition was organized, where all performances must be achieved between specific dates.
Athletics is thus inspired tennis and its ATP and WTA ranking system. The athletes’ position in the rankings will be determined by various performance aspects along with the level of competition they are participating in. In simple words “only athletes custom to the diamond league will have the most of the point’s advantage” “ Good Agent = Big points advantage“.
The IAAF needs a continuous and exceptional performances to keep their partner happy which generate more endorsement and money, to do so they elaborate a qualification system that will privileged a particular group of athlete to guarantee their presence on the big even (World, Games..) even if those follow failed they respective nationals selections.
At Nationals didn’t all counter supposed to be reset to zero”
This new qualification system based on athlete’s global ranking and performance will certainly have a big impact on countries nationals selections and also toward outsiders who was not able to cumulate points during the season. Now an athlete who finish in the first three at his nationals selection will not be guaranteed a seat with his National team. Some will come to nationals with a points advantage and if they missed their mark, don’t worry, they might be still eligible to make the team, so do the sentence “May the best Win” keeps its meaning?
ATP and WTA model no adequate for athletics qualification system
Problematic case: one athlete (A) ran 100m in 9″86 and did that performance during the season and had cumulate a lots of points in all major meets, but finished 4th at nationals and athlete (B) did not cumulate points in meetings at all, but finish 3rd at the National with a 10″00. Do you think it is fair to outs athlet (B) for a lack of point and select Athlete (A) instead?.
It will become a big disadvantage for athletes who do not have access to big meetings like the diamond league or for athletes who got injured during the season. That new global ranking qualification’s system will generate more unfairness and problematic situations. This global ranking system would work better if it was only to grant an exceptional selection to unqualified athlete who ran outstanding performance during the season, who missed the mark on their nationals championships, of course at the discretion of technical delegate.
ATP and WTA tennis ranking model are no appropriate to athletic model for the only reason that athletics is will always be a precise, measured, performance’s sport, and in any case can be measured by points and season ranking.
For your information winning all meets with outstanding performances, do not guarantee a World or Olympic tittle. The magic of that sport is that the D-Day all counter are reset to zero for everyone, when no one can have a pass because they cumulated points the last past months.