World Athletics president Sebastian Coe opened up when asked by insidethegames if circumstances may require athletes’ efforts to be viewed via television rather than directly by spectators, Coe responded: “In the short term we may have to compromise on that.
“We can’t be oblivious or tin-eared to what we are being told by local communities and public health authorities.
“It may well mean that.
“It’s clear that football is going to come back quite quickly with the Bundesliga plans.
“And that will be behind closed doors.
“I don’t think anybody is contemplating this as the ideal long-term solution – sport would wither on the vine quite quickly if that were the case.
“But that may well be a compromise we have to make in order to get the athletes back into competition, leagues finished, at least some kind of competition.”
In another breath, Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi came out on top in the second pole vault edition of the Ultimate Garden Clash on Saturday (16).
Competing at her local track in Athens, the Greek record-holder amassed 34 successful vaults over a 4.00m bar, beating the tallies set by her overseas rivals Katie Nageotte of the USA and Alysha Newman of Canada.
Nageotte, who was taking part from her base in Marietta, Georgia, and Newman, who was competing from Bolton, Ontario, achieved 30 and 21 clearances respectively.
