Eight track and field finals, including the women’s 10,000 metres and men’s triple jump, will be held during morning sessions at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) said this week.
At a council meeting in Monaco last month, the IAAF outlined plans to introduce 13 morning finals for the first time since 1988 in order to help maximise international broadcast coverage.
The governing body confirmed that eight track and field finals, along with all five road events – the two marathons and the three race walk events – will be held during the morning sessions.
The women’s 10,000 will be won on the first morning of track and field action on Aug. 12, while other morning finals include the men’s and women’s 3,000m steeplechase, men’s 400m hurdles, men’s and women’s discus, and the women’s hammer.
“Staging finals in the morning was done at the request of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and the Olympic Broadcasting Service, supported by the IOC,” IAAF Competitions Director Paul Hardy said.
“Having finals in the morning will also ensure that we receive maximum visibility for athletics at the Olympic Games across all time zones.”
The men’s 100m final will take place on the evening of August 14 with the women’s the day before.
The Rio Olympics takes place from August 5 to 21.
Fukushima interest
Fukushima is keen to show it has fully recovered from the 2011 nuclear disaster by hosting some events for the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The governor of the northeastern prefecture held talks with his Tokyo counterpart yesterday to discuss the matter.
“We need to set a goal so that we can show how much Fukushima has recovered,” Masao Uchibori was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.
Uchibori did not specify which events Fukushima wanted to stage but soccer matches appeared the most likely, with games normally held around the host country and starting before the opening ceremony.
Organising team official Yoichi Masuzoe welcomed the interest from Fukushima, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
“The Olympic Games are meant to show to the world the Tohoku region’s reconstruction.
“We want to cooperate as much as possible,” he said.