D-51. Will the eleventh edition of the Indian Ocean Islands Games in Madagascar be the best? Were athletic technicians consulted before the Barea Stadium tartan track was put in place? After the visit to the field by the state authorities this weekend, the list of details to be rectified for bringing it up to standard is long. “Part of the tracing of the lines delimiting the corridors must be redone, among others, that between the delimitation of the football field and the first interior corridor, certain lines delimiting the corridors, and that of the start of the middle distance and long distance races” , lists a technician in the discipline. The lawns behind the goals should also be cleared to install the equipment for the competitions. “In addition to the installation of the tartan, one of the two half-moons will be dedicated to the pole vault and high jump, and the other side for the shot put, hammer and javelin”, he continues.
The technicians of the federation carried out yesterday, the marking before the tracing and the standardization. Much also remains to be rehabilitated at the Alarobia stadium, to mention only the complete replacement of the tartan track, installed before the Games of La Francophonie in 1997, and renovated before the Games of the Islands in 2007. And the protective grids of the hammer throwing and all the rooms under the bleacher are to be rehabilitated… The approval of the site will logically depend on these details which should not be overlooked. We all know there are no miracles in sport. Athletics, in particular, requires specific and intensive preparation because it is a measurable discipline. It is the time that determines the performance. In the history of the games, athletics is also one of the disciplines with gold medals for Madagascar, like weightlifting.