The host nation came into these European Athletics Championships in Rome with expectations of doing well, if not topping the medal table; and stirring home victories in the opening and closing finals of the first day, the women’s 20k Walk and 5000 metres justified those hopes; it’s just a shame that there were not more Italians in the spectacular Stadio Olimpico to witness their athletes establish an early lead with two gold and two silver medals.
And when the statistics come through, the gulf between spectator and viewer will be emphasised even more, because there weren’t even 10,000 attendees in the revamped stadium which hosted the 1960 Olympic Games. And given that at least a thousand of those were knots of vocal foreign supporters, it’s worth asking ‘whither stadium athletics in future?’ at least for this event whose proximity to the Olympic Games in Paris has severely affected entries.
When asked why the final event of each day was scheduled for close to 11pm or later, one veteran of Italian athletics said simply, ‘Television’. And the fact that the organisers prevailed on the national channel RAI to share their broadcast signal with Sky Italia – an unprecedented move in any other country’s competitive television market – suggests that some sports may be better confined to the box.
The one element which did respond in force was the weather. Unseasonably cold up to a week ago, with locals agreeing with the rest of the world that the climate is changing and not necessarily for the better, the temperature climbed to over 30C yesterday, and was still torrid late afternoon when the women walkers set out on their multiple tours of the Foro Italico sports complex adjacent to the Tiber.
What crowd there was in the stadium on Day One were vocal enough each time the screen showed Italian Olympic champion Antonella Palmisano forging a greater and greater lead after halfway. She eventually won with ease, and veteran compatriot, Valentina Trapletti’s late surge took her to the silver medal. In contrast to the delight of the two Italians, there was despair for Laura Garcia Caro of Spain when, having been given a national flag halfway round the lap in the stadium, she took overlong to drape it round her shoulders and began her celebrations prematurely unaware that Ukraine’s Lyudmilla Ulyanovska was closing fast. Instead of the bronze medal Garcia Caro got the sour taste of what Irishman Eammon Coghlan once described as, ‘the loneliest place in athletics’ – fourth!
If that was the top of the evening, the tail went to another Italian, Nadia Battocletti. Having followed the brave front-running of Karoline Grovdal, which got rid of all the other pursuers, the Norwegian conceded in the finishing straight to the Italian’s national record of 14min 35.29sec; and Battocletti had revenge for her loss to Grovdal in the European cross country champs last December.
With Italian Olympic 100 metres champion Marcell Jacobs running in both semi and final of the sprint (one presumes the latter) on Day Two; and other strong Italian medal prospects to make what local media are already referring to as ‘Super Saturday’ (reprising the UK’s three gold medal day at the 2012 London Olympics), the stands should be more reminiscent of a crowd.
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