- World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe called on children to take up sports to combat "shocks" like the coronavirus as his sport was bracing for a restart at a Czech event next week.
PRAGUE (AFP) – World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe called on children to take up sports to combat “shocks” like the coronavirus as his sport was bracing for a restart at a Czech event next week.
On Monday (June 1), “Back on Track” will bring together professional athletes, including two-time Olympic javelin champion and world record holder Barbora Spotakova, alongside kids at 173 venues across the Czech Republic.
“I absolutely support this,” Coe told Czech reporters in a video press conference.
“This is the first big initiative that has come to fruition from a member federation.
“We can work with governments to re-establish school sport, which is the bedrock of everything that we know, particularly as we come into a post-pandemic world,” the 63-year-old former runner said.
“Those communities that are fitter and healthier and stronger and have good immune systems are those communities that are going to be better positioned in future to deal with these shocks.”
Coe, a former British Member of Parliament, said “political will” was necessary.
“We need to really have politicians properly understanding the linkage between what we’ve all been through in the last few months and healthy communities,” he said.
The Czech event will capitalise on an easing of the restrictive measures adopted by the government to stem the virus spread in mid-March.
At present, sports events with up to 300 people are allowed across the Czech Republic, an EU member with more than 9,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and more than 300 deaths.
