I first set foot on an indoor track and field track in Toronto in 1976. In the 50 years since I’ve covered Ken Elphick’s failed track and field series – one meet in Brisbane before it all fell apart – and three World Indoor Championships. And I still don’t quite know what to do with it.
The Toronto track is the only track I’ve done any significant running at. I was in town for a night or two to catch up with a Canadian friend and we shared a jet flight from Perth to London, via Singapore, a few years ago. I was looking for a place to run and the front desk told me there was a track upstairs. I can’t remember what the surface was like – other than the fact that it wasn’t slate – nor how many turns the mile took, but the whole experience would have been even more bizarre if the village people had walked in and burst into song!
The Ken Elphic series was no less strange. Elphick ran a series of successful outdoor meets in Australia in the late 1970s and secured sponsorship from Korean car manufacturer Daewoo for indoor meets in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Carl Lewis has signed on as an ambassador for the series. Lost in all the hype is whether he has registered to run. Turns out it wasn’t; He would promote events but wouldn’t compete, basically, unless he felt like it.
Elphick only had enough money to purchase 120 meters of indoor track. That meant six and two-thirds laps of track until the 800, nearly three more than four laps of the record of 200 meters per lap, and just under an astonishing 13 laps until the 1500. Still, at least it was a track. Within a few days, she had disappeared into the yard of the trucking company she had been booked to transport to Sydney, seized as potential compensation for unpaid work.
By comparison, the three World Indoor Championships – Maebashi in Japan in 1997, Doha in 2010 and Istanbul in 2012 – were smooth sailing. However, we hit choppy waters upon arriving at Tokyo Airport with our transportation to Maebashi. It fell to the unlikely trio of Cathy Freeman, Colin Jackson, and myself to try to solve this problem.
Buses were waiting for later arrivals, and we bridged across the language gap. However, Freeman worked the magic, and one of the buses was allocated to the Australian team (plus a media representative). There was room for others at the airport as well, but Jackson stayed behind to wait for his colleagues on the later flight. He survived the journey to win the 60 meter hurdles in a championship record time.
The Doha session in 2010 was unusual only because it was the first – and surely it will remain the only one? – Indoor world titles in which athletes went outside to warm up. Even in the fall, the temperature in the Gulf country was around 30 degrees Celsius, so the athletes chose the outdoor track, laying out beach towels to bask in the sun between practices and repetitions.
Istanbul was pretty much everything you would expect from a winter event, although there was no snow or ice.
What about the quality of competition then? Well, this is where I get confused about evaluating indoor track and field (or short track as it is now). The entertainment value is top notch from the moment you walk in and you don’t know where to look as an event on the track, the shot put (the only throwing event) and the vertical or horizontal jump are all taking place simultaneously. Sometimes it’s like that slapstick comedy trope where the cat’s tail swings under the rocking chair. Except the chair rail never comes down on the tail!
However, with exceptions – shout out to Mondo here – the performances don’t really stick with you. When I think of all the indoor competitions I’ve seen or read about, there aren’t many that come to mind so clearly. Part of that is certainly because Australia – along with almost half the world – has no domestic indoor competition. Even fans don’t have a constantly reinforced reference point for what constitutes a good performance on the 60-meter flat or hurdles.
Besides, World Indoor Championship results pick up later in the year as the outdoor season develops. What happens in February and March is overshadowed by what happens in Eugene, London, Paris, Monaco, Zurich, Brussels, or the major tournaments later in the year.
Ron Clark set world records indoors, but I can’t remember any of them with the same clarity as his first outdoor records in Australia, or his amazing world records in Bislett (10,000m) and Stockholm (5,000), or his amazing three-mile duel with Gerry Lindgren in London. When I listed some of our successful indoor performers a few weeks ago, former Athletics Australia president Terry Dwyer reminded me that Al Lawrence had set world indoor records at 2 and 3 miles in the 1960s. The point has been taken, but is he more widely remembered than his bronze medal won behind Coates in the Melbourne Olympics 10,000 metres?
None of this is to deny the atmosphere and entertainment of indoor athletics. It’s a big buzz, a sugar hit if you will. So, I’ll be watching with interest as two-time defending champion Nicola Olesligers and world record holder Eleanor Patterson take on Jaroslava Mahuchykh tonight in the women’s high jump as the World Indoor Championships get underway in Toruń, Poland.
Pass the sugar please, I feel like I’m about to need an extra spoon.
