Coe says sports must take responsibility for adapting to climate change

BUDAPEST : Athletics faces an uncertain future in the face of the changing climate, with the sport's head Sebastian Coe warning on Friday that athletes are already suffering and some member federations' countries might not even exist in the future.

Nearly 80 per cent of athletes surveyed by World Athletics said they are seriously concerned about the climate crisis, and some 75 per cent said their competition or training has already been affected, Coe said on the eve of the world championships.

In a summer that has seen wildfires raging, record high temperatures across southern Europe and relentless flooding in Asia, the World Athletics president said sports federations cannot rely on governments to avert the climate crisis.

"Where would I start?" the twice Olympic champion said at a press conference on Friday.

"I genuinely don't think governments are going to meet any of the targets that are being identified. And this is very much a personal view, I'm not speaking on behalf of World Athletics. It's something that I have felt very strongly about for a long time.

"Constituent groups like sport are going to have to figure this out for themselves, because I don't think we can rely on governments to remotely get to grips with what is going to be a massive shift in reality in the next few years.

"There are countries in our federation that will probably not be in existence in the next 20 years because of rising sea levels."

EVENTS RESCHEDULED

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon and race-walking events were moved 800 kilometres north to Sapporo to avoid a repeat of the 2019 world championships in Doha, where numerous athletes succumbed to the heat and dropped out of distance events.

Rising temperatures forced the 10,000 metres to be