World Athletics Patterns Throw Mono (© World Athletics)
The Athletes’ Commission’s 4-year plan focuses not only on representing and advocating the athletes’ perspective and voice within World Athletics, but to actively contribute to the goals outlined in the World Athletics Strategic Plan with emphasis five core areas.
The plan seeks to support World Athletics’ commitment to ensuring our sport leads the way in embedding safeguarding and integrity in international sport, pioneering change with athletes at the forefront of innovation and competition as well as reviewing and exploring opportunities to grow the value of athletics and revenue opportunities for athletes.
The plan also looks to improve the framework to grow engagement with athletes, fans and other stakeholders to promote and grow the sport and drive accessibility, while further embedding the athletes’ voice in sports governance and decision-making positions at all levels.
The objectives of the Athletes’ Commission are to:
Advocate for the rights and interests of athletes within the sport of athletics and firmly establish the Athletes’ Commission profile amongst its peers by:
- ensuring representation of the athletes’ voice on all levels of decision-making, providing Council and all other Commissions with advice and expertise on relevant matters;
- developing a robust communications strategy involving a revamp of its current platforms, a properly segmented athlete database and channel strategy to help with outreach and consultation of athletes;
- proposing the possibility of a review of the current Athletes’ Commission Election and Appointment processes to ensure the best possible candidates and representation are guaranteed;
Promote and advocate for the advancement and implementation of a safe, fair, and equal playing field for athletes by:
- working closely with the Safeguarding Taskforce on the implementation of the World Athletics Safeguarding Policy at Member Federation and Area Association level, including the development of mandatory and fair KPIs as well as sanctions;
- focusing on education of especially, but not limited to, age-group (U20) athletes and supporting the development, distribution and promotion of educational materials, including eLearning, Zoom sessions, and utilising Athletes’ Commission members as educators in their respective areas – both of expertise and geographically;
- working with the AIU and WADA on developing more robust and reliable anti-doping products and procedures (i.e. AIU and WADA apps) and ongoing reviews of rules and regulations (i.e. WADA Code Review);
- promoting and changing the perception of ‘integrity’ amongst the athlete community from something ‘boring’ to an aspirational quality every athlete and official in our sport should strive for.
Advise and assist World Athletics in driving innovation and opportunities with the athletes’ perspective at the forefront by:
- fully embedding the Athletes’ Commission and other relevant athlete voices within the work of the Competition Commission;
- developing a clear consultation process for proposed changes or innovation, which allows for appropriate and timely consultation and discourse with respective athlete community (be that an individual discipline group, event groups, or the entire athlete body);
- contributing to and reviewing the evolution and usage of World Rankings and the Global Calendar.
Create a framework to help understand and develop athlete revenue and competition opportunities, and educate athletes on related rules and regulations by:
- conducting research on the current state of earning opportunities and restricting factors for athletes to help shape and support the goals of the Strategic Plan.
- developing educational materials with relevant World Athletics departments for the current, and in particular the next generation of athletes on ‘athlete literacy’ i.e. matters related to their sport, such as, but not limited to:
i. Marketing and advertising rules and regulations / opportunities
ii. Athlete Representative rules and regulations / self-representation
iii. Eligibility of athletes / Transfer of allegiance
Assist World Athletics in driving engagement with fans and developing people and expertise within our sport by:
- supporting relevant World Athletics departments on projects around fan engagement, leveraging athletes’ expertise and profile to help promote projects and events to help drive growth;
- advising and assisting World Athletics with ideas and expertise to help engage fans during event time – outside the field of play.
- supporting World Athletics with projects around the development of educational materials and development of expertise across areas such as coaching, technical officials, …
All World Athletics Commissions' 4-Year-Plans can be found here.