India should be clear in their purpose why it wants to host CWG: Moses

Madrid: Legendary Olympian Edwin Moses wants India's sporting establishment to be clear in their minds about the purpose for wanting to host a Commonwealth Games or Olympics -- is it about having a mega event or develop sports in the country.

India have submitted its Expression of Interest (EOI) to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and also are intending to bid for the 2036 edition of Olympics.

India is among the seven bidders to host the 2031 AFC Asian Cup in men’s football.

"It depends on what the vision is for having a Commonwealth Games. Is it just to have an event in India, or is it to really develop sports? That's gonna be the big question," Moses, a Laureus World Sports Academy member told PTI when asked if if hosting mega events like the Commonwealth Games could help find better athletes.

"You can put on the Commonwealth Games or any other event and have all the fanfare and the government involved, and people who have nothing to do with sports-but sit on the front row. That's what you want to avoid. That's generally what happens," Moses was blunt about how he perceived India's interest in these events.

Moses is at his wits end to understand why a country of billion can't consistently produce world class athletes.

"So it's gonna depend on the people who have been athletes, who are able to make things happen. That's for the people in India to determine. I don't keep up with the politics of sports over there or what's gone wrong-and why isn't a country with a billion people better than others in sports, which doesn't even make sense." Moses, who won 107 consecutive finals and set the world record in the 400m hurdles four times between 1977 and 1987, also expressed concern over India’s inability to produce world-class athletes despite its massive population.

"They have to spend the money on coaches and infrastructure. There's a lot of other countries in the world-much smaller, with much less financial capabilities than India-that produce good athletes," the 69-year-old said.

"So the infrastructure is just not there to support athletes and take Olympic sports seriously. They have certain areas in which they're really good, but in general, it's probably just the infrastructure, coaches, stadiums, and dedication to help athletes become better athletes.

"The question is, is it valuable to the country-other than cricket, which is the big sport there, right? How much do they value other sports that people may not be familiar with?" his counter-questions were blunt.

'Level Paying' field is Coventry's first assignment

Moses has urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president-elect Kristy Coventry to focus on ensuring fair compensation for track and field athletes, who he believes have long been underpaid compared to their peers from other sports.

Two-time Olympic swimming gold medallist Coventry will officially take over from current IOC president Thomas Bach on June 23, celebrated globally as Olympic Day.

"I think the main concern for me would be compensation of athletes," Moses said when questioned on issues the new IOC president should prioritise after assuming office.

"Because you have professional athletes from golf, tennis, basketball, soccer coming into the Olympic movement and then you have your classical sports like track and field, gymnastics, swimming. And these people are still uncompensated.

"So I think that's what the IOC really needs to deal with to really make it fair for the athletes who have to spend their own money or really sacrifice just to go to the Olympic Games. I think that they need to solve that problem," he said.

Drawing comparisons with other professional sports, Moses said track and field athletes have missed out on the financial boom due to the lack of a players’ union.

"When I was running in 1978, the prize money for winning the men's Wimbledon Championship was USD 80,000. Tennis was unionized. Track and field wasn’t," said Moses, who won gold medals in the 400m hurdles at the 1976 Montreal and 1984 LA Olympics.

"In American basketball, in 1981–82, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was making USD 1.2 million a year—and people thought that was blasphemy... But their union became strong. Look at where their salaries are now.

"Track and field did nothing. Tennis unionized. Football, baseball—all those sports have really strong unions. They’re making millions of dollars a year.

"And Olympic sports? They've been consistently absent from that group and that endeavor."

Moses pointed out that only a few exceptional athletes like Usain Bolt have managed to build lucrative global brands. He recalled that he himself earned well in the early 1980s due to a temporary relaxation of amateur rules.

"Track and field is going to continue falling behind until it unionizes. And I think there are people who don’t want that to happen because it would have implications for a lot of other sports," he explained.