Track and field is the No. 1 Olympic sport, according to World Athletics 2021 annual report

Track and field is the No. 1 Olympic sport as per the World Athletics 2021 annual report published on Tuesday. The report was prepared by Publicis Sport & Entertainment (PSE), an independent agency, which was commissioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to collect and consolidate sport and event data from all continents.

"We were determined to keep our sport front and center and do everything we could to maintain domestic and international events, which gave the athletes the platform for the many outstanding performances we witnessed in Tokyo," Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, said in his opening message in the report.

“The athletes rose to the occasion after many months of disruption and frustration, and did so again at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi. It was a collective contribution that saw athletics excel as the number one Olympic sport," the statement continued.

The largest number of media articles (10,000) were written about athletics during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Athletics also recorded the highest number (2.2 million) of broadcast viewing hours of any sport at the Games, the World Athletics report said.

Despite uncertainty prevailing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global governing body in track and field was able to deliver hundreds of events across the globe, providing athletes with a much-needed competition structure ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“The athletes’ prize money for the World Athletics Championships has been increased by US $1 million. For the 2022 and 2023 editions, this will be covered by World Athletics through investing the sanction fee from the Russian Athletic Federation suspension and reinstatement process,” World Athletics said.

Despite the challenging conditions, World Athletics put to good use adaptation, flexibility and creativity in 2021. As many as 11,000 athletes were able to compete in more than 100 elite competitions, including three World Athletics Series events and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

While the pandemic restricted road races to 48 across the globe in 2020, the number increased to 84 in 2021.

The World Athletics body also revealed strong financial results.

“Revenue for the year ending December 31, 2021, without the Olympic dividend, remained stable at US $43.3m. This included committed revenues through the Dentsu and EBU partnerships, which remain secure. With the inclusion of the Olympic dividend (US $39.4m) revenues for the year rose 87% to US$83m,” the World Athletics report stated.