RDC looking to boost heptathlon buildup

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta-based Regional Development Center is seeking to increase participation in the heptathlon in Southeast Asia, an event it says is the key to women's track and field success in international athletics.

The combined event for women, comprising the 100-meter hurdles, 200 and 800-meter sprints, shot put, javelin throw, high jump and long jump, has had little support from regional sports bodies in the region, the center said.

The men's version of the heptathlon is the 10-event decathlon.

"We are looking to further promote the event in Southeast Asia because many (track and field) associations here don't realize that the (heptathlon) is the basis of athletics," sport expert Hans-Peter Thumm told The Jakarta Post here on Monday.

Thumm, from Germany, is the mentor of the international Youth Heptathlon Training Camp, hosted by the RDC, which began on Monday in Jakarta.

The International Association of Athletic Federations- sanctioned camp trains 20 coaches from 10 countries and runs until Sept. 2. Representatives from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka are joining their counterparts from Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Thumm said paying attention to the heptathlon was a vital way of nurturing young talent in athletics.

"A nation that neglects this combined event is reducing athletics to specialized events and is destroying the base of athletics," he said.

He said beginner athletes should take up multi-event training programs, which were common in successful sporting countries.

"Youngsters of between eight and nine years old in regions such as Europe, the United States, Australia and China take part in multi-event programs in the early phases of their training," he said.

"Because children are by nature interested in athletics as a whole, not in specialized events, we shouldn't restrict them to training in a single event."

The camp would train coaches in the latest coaching techniques, Thumm said.

"(After the camp) the coaches should be able to better observe the strengths and weaknesses of their athletes. Hopefully, when they return to their home countries they will train more effectively."

Thumm has been helping Indonesia scout for sporting talent since 2002 through a joint Indonesian-German program.