That is our fifth column on the Athlos Assembly, which befell final Thursday, September 26, 2024. Olivia Miller was our summer time intern for RunBlogRun for the 2024 Olympic Trials. She additionally did a every day column remotely on the Paris Olympics. Now that she is again at college, now we have requested her to offer us with a column for crucial occasions. You’ll take pleasure in her view of the Athlos assembly.
5 Observations from Athlos, by Olivia Miller
September 26 marked the inaugural Athlos all-women’s monitor meet. This groundbreaking occasion, based by entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian and backed by his enterprise capital agency 776, aimed to revolutionize the panorama of girls’s monitor and area.
Athlos introduced collectively 36 elite feminine athletes from varied international locations to compete in six-track occasions. The 5,000-capacity stadium witnessed competitions within the 100m, 100m hurdles, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m races.
An introduction to trace and area
Whereas viewers who often watch monitor and area could have discovered sure features of the published elementary, it opened up the game to a completely new viewers.
As Athlos is in its formative days, it solely has six occasions, all of that are monitor. Whereas this can be disappointing to some, it gives a simplified look into the monitor for these new to the game. The intervals between races gave viewers a extra in-depth look into every particular person occasion. These segments featured athlete profiles, permitting the viewers to grow to be higher acquainted with the rivals and their backgrounds.
The large names have been additionally a part of an effort to draw new individuals. The published included interviews with celebrities like screenwriter, producer Shonda Rimes, and rapper Taste Flav. In-person attendees even obtained to see a efficiency by rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
A better look
Athlos confirmed us a brand new facet of the monitor. One which was rather more private.
The crowning ceremonies and athlete interviews opened up a facet to trace and area that the general public usually doesn’t see. Every thing was within the second. Nothing was polished. Dwell interviews, particularly so quickly after a race, carry out a kind of uncooked emotion.
Athlos capitalized on the 20-minute intervals between races; they featured choose athlete profiles. These segments provided viewers a glimpse into the rivals’ lives, chronicling their journeys and acknowledging their triumphs and hardships.
Give attention to equal pay
There was an emphasis on the prize cash of this meet, as there ought to be—it was record-breaking. The prize cash totaled $110,000 per race, with the winner getting $60,000—that’s double the ultimate winner’s prize of $30,000 within the 2024 Diamond League. As well as, 10% of income from ticketing, industrial sponsorship, and broadcast was redistributed to all of the competing athletes.
And it wasn’t simply monitor and area. The published featured two-time FIFA World Cup winner Ashlyn Harris, a USWNT equal pay lawsuit plaintiff. She emphasised the significance of partnerships and clever funding to uplift all girls’s sports activities.
Uplifting girls’s voices
The published included a plethora of girls offering knowledgeable commentary. Journalist Cari Champion hosted from behind a smooth black desk, introducing races and conducting interviews with sports activities figures and celebrities.
Lara Overton joined Champion to offer analytical insights on the occasions. Writer and coach Robin Arzon was down the monitor, interviewing athletes in the course of the crowning ceremony.
The published was virtually solely feminine, besides NBC’s Paul Swangard, who commentated alongside 2012 Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross.
It is a rarity, even in girls’s sports activities.
The Spectacle.
The Tiffany crowns, the walkout songs, the sparklers—we’re seeing features of different sports activities sprinkled into monitor and area like by no means earlier than. The showmanship was harking back to American sports activities like Main League Baseball and the Nationwide Soccer League.
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn even handled us to a victory dance throughout her crowning ceremony. Athlos has created an atmosphere the place feminine athletes are inspired to have fun their achievements.
Only a few, if any, girls’s sports activities have tried something like this.
As Ashlyn Harris stated, “Athlos Offers girls’s sports activities the hype they deserve.”
Certainly, it did.
