World Athletics Convention inspires innovation action | PRESS-RELEASES

Inspired by the trail blazed by keynote speaker Bob Weis, the former President of Walt Disney Imagineering, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe reinforced the imperative that innovation drives the future of athletics during his opening speech for the World Athletics Convention on Thursday (11).

“As you have all heard me say, many times: our core activity is sport, but our business has to be entertainment,” Coe said during his opening remarks for the Convention, held ahead of the 55th World Athletics Congress in Tokyo. “Bob has refined and re-engineered ‘entertainment’ with his relentless focus on the customer, the experience and the storytelling. 

“This is why I am delighted that Bob is able to join us today, to share some of his stories and sprinkle a little bit of that Disney magic.”

Weis is a dreamer who believes that if you can imagine it, you can do it. He was an Imagineer for more than 40 years and was President of Walt Disney Imagineering from 2016 to 2021.

Ahead of the speech by Weis, Coe encouraged the athletics association and member federation representatives present to consider where they sit, and where World Athletics sits, when it comes to using innovation to drive growth.

“It has to create momentum,” Coe added. “It has to drive organisations forward.”

During his keynote speech, Weis touched on some of the stories shared in his book, Dream Chasing, which recounts his four decades at Disney – creating, improving and radically rethinking complex and challenging projects, including some of the most iconic and visited attractions, on sea and on land.

“Dreams are exciting, frustrating, and sometimes elusive, as hard to hold on to as pixie dust, like glitter falling through your fingers,” he told the audience of more than 200 member federations. “Sometimes they are meant to happen, and they do, sometimes they are meant to happen, and they don’t … and then there’s every combination in between.”

The Walt Disney Company and World Athletics were both founded more than a century ago, and both have had to evolve.

“I have a sense that even though I’m the Disney guy, I have some relationship to all of you – we’re all doing the same thing. We’re all creating experiences; we’re all helping people create their dreams and then, being the stewards of those dreams to carry them around the world,” said Weis.

“Ultimately, Walt described his dreamers as possessing a blending of creative imagination with technical know-how – the people who can dream it and the people who can do it. They called it Imagineering. And most of all, they could dream together. Nothing gets done unless we can come up with a dream, and we can all figure out a way to chase it together.

“I get a sense, Seb, that your leadership encourages the same attributes that I think of when I think of Walt Disney, and I can’t wait to see what comes out of this convention.”

Continuing the innovation agenda discussed during the 238th World Athletics Council Meeting earlier in the week, Coe outlined the types of innovation that World Athletics is focusing on.

The introduction of the 4x100m mixed relay is an example of an incremental innovation introduced by World Athletics, Coe explained. The Convention was held on the one-year-to-go milestone until the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, and the launch of this groundbreaking showcase for the sport is an example of a radical innovation.

The welcome and keynote speech were followed by three focused breakout sessions: one on the Ultimate Championship, the second on artificial intelligence in athletics, and the third titled ‘From Innovation to Impact: Tracking What Truly Matters’.

The Ultimate Championship session included World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon, World Athletics Head of Product Research & Development Jakob Larsen, World Athletics Athletes’ Commission Chair and World Athletics Council member Dame Valerie Adams, athlete representative and meeting director Ellen van Langen, and Birgit Schiller, Head of Venue Management and Project Director at HBS. Topics covered included calendar timing, format, broadcasting, the athlete and athlete representative perspective, prize pot and clothing.

The discussion for the artificial intelligence session was led by Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-chancellor of Loughborough University, and he was joined by Australian Athletics President Jane Flemming, Deloitte senior partner and Head of Sport John Tweardy, and Coe. The breakout centred on how AI can support and develop sport, AI in coaching and talent identification, AI for business efficiency, and data analysis.

From Innovation to Impact: Tracking What Truly Matters examined ways in which member federations can collect data that adds value to its social impact. Presenters included Paraguay Athletics Federation President Gerardo Luis Acosta Perez, Tokyo Marathon Race Director Yasuhiro Oshima, World Athletics Kids’ Athletics Manager Catherine O’Sullivan and World Athletics Head of Sustainability Bob Ramsak.

“For innovation to flourish in any organisation, work is needed to create a culture that will empower innovation and enable it to thrive,” said Coe. “This is where we, as leaders, have our most important role, in creating a ‘safe space’ where the culture is most risk tolerant, developing a sense of courage, curiosity, experimentation, problem solving and yes, sometimes learning through failure.

“As you have heard me say often, it is OK to fail, but fail quickly. Hire the right people and empower them to drive innovation forward.

“The next two years will be incredibly exciting for our sport. After we steadied the ship and laid solid foundations, World Athletics is now a hugely ambitious organisation on a growth pathway. Our time to shine is now.”

The Convention was followed by the World Athletics Congress, taking place on Thursday and Friday (11-12), on the eve of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

The biennial report to Congress includes reports from area presidents, financial updates, Council and Commission decisions, and progress against the strategic plan and World Plan.

World Athletics