ATHLETICS

By: Franz Haslinger Member of IBSA Athletims Subcommitte One of the few positive aspects of the Atlanta Games was the fact that the competition was held in the same installations as the Olympics. Most of the officials were highly competent and cooperative, and attempted to carry out their functions in a correct manner. Some mistakes were a result of the inadequately disability-specific training of the judges and the erroneous decisions of some referees. Despite the large volume of work, the technical personnel tried to do their work well, something they managed to accomplish. I was really surprised by the number of participants in the different events (12 B2's in the triple jump, 19 B2's in the long jump...), which means that the future of most of the men's events is in no way threatened. Nevertheless, this positive view of the men's events cannot offset the worrying situation as regards the women's events; the message for our member nations must be one of paying greater heed to this sector. One important point that must be stressed is the large number of athletes from the developing countries who came to participate and ended up on the podium. I believe they represent the first fruits reaped from the seeds sown by IBSA. After the BARCELONA '92 Paralympic Games, I thought that disabled sport - in our case, for the blind - had reached a really high standard and would stay at that level for some time. But the figures - 11 WORLD RECORDS and 17 PARALYMPIC RECORDS - not only demonstrate that the opposite is true, but also show that blind sports worldwide are developing and growing at a continuous rate. I have been observing blind athletics for 14 years now and, in ATLANTA, I met a lot of new athletes, something that truly fills me with hope for the future. The athletics section within IBSA enhances the international sports movement and gives us the right to demand a greater acknowledgement of our work. The excellent competitions in the different disciplines make it very difficult to select a top athlete. Indeed,we enjoyed the performances of quite a few "stars" like SANTAMARTA, BATALOVA, REQUENA, COELHO, SUN... and, especially for me, of the best athletes and medal winners from the so-called THIRD WORLD. Besides considering the great performances of our blind athletes, now is the time to project our work for the future, with a view to revising current regulations, considering our classification system, etc. To sum up, the ATLANTA PARALYMPIC GAMES have clearly demonstrated the high standard of our sport and, in my opinion, place IBSA in a much stronger position with respect to the intransigent attitude of the IPC.