European Athletics Championships in Birmingham: a final balance

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The European Championships in Birmingham ended in the best possible way for Italy: 22 medals, only 2 fewer than the previous edition, where we were competing at home and, in an Olympic year, were giving the event greater priority than many others. Without Jacobs’s injury, we would almost certainly have won the same number of golds as in 2024 (okay, 2 of them in events that did not exist then). I watched four evening sessions live (one of them only partly, due to force majeure) and three morning sessions. Then I had to switch to watching on TV and, although Sky did a good job with the customized shots, it is never easy to adjust to seeing what broadcasters choose. This is my assessment as a spectator, speaking about things under the control either of the organizers or of European Athletics.

The ups

·        Shuttles: very convenient; on the way there there was never a queue, and on the way back, even when the queue was long (the longest was on Tuesday evening), it moved quickly, 20 minutes or a little more. And on top of that, we always travelled seated, unlike at other events where the route was also longer, from the Winter Olympics to the Ryder Cup

·       Food and drinks: there were many stands offering very different products and, from what I saw, all of them were good (some more, some less, of course). I ate Chinese, Spanish, German food and even a local speciality, the “Cornish Pasty”, a pastry filled with beer-braised meat and beans, which pleasantly surprised me, since, like most Italians, I have always thought that “culinary speciality” and “British” do not belong in the same sentence. The local media talked a lot about excessive prices, but to me they did not seem excessive at all for being inside an event (at the Ryder Cup everything was very expensive). Of course, for an Italian, pizzas starting at £15 are a shock, but they don't cost much less in restaurants. Most dishes were around £10–12. Drinks were cheaper, with beers around £8.

·        Medical station: of course, I would gladly have done without writing this paragraph, since I would have preferred not to have experienced it, but I must say they were very professional and kind. Of course, I benefited from being the only patient; I had the whole staff at my disposal. Incidentally, they never questioned whether my case was serious enough to require their intervention, whereas I had many doubts. Perhaps, however, they were a little too zealous in sending me to hospital afterwards as well, given that I stayed there until 3:45 in the morning.

 

The downs

·        Ticket management: there was a lot of talk about excessive prices, and in fact, at least for the first few days, they were excessive: £103 for the second tier, on the straight opposite the finish. However, I do not think the low attendance at the beginning can be explained by this alone, since cheaper places were also empty. In any case, the problem was not only the price: some sessions were first listed as sold out (and for that reason I had decided to stay only until Friday: I had also bought a ticket for Friday morning, but I knew it would be complicated to use it and in fact I tdid not), then became available again, but by then I had booked my flight and hotel. I also did not understand why on Thursday morning I had bought such a bad seat: the cost? I do not think so; I could have spent the same as on the other mornings. Were the other seats not available? Had I not understood from the map how bad it was?

·        Race walking events at the same time: I mention this even though I only watched them on TV because I think it must have been worse for live spectators: with four races taking place at the same time, and on top of that on a 1 km circuit, it is impossible to follow anything clearly.

·        Medal ceremonies: I do not like the double presentation of the medals, first immediately after the event and then in the “medal plaza”. The medal plaza itself was in an out-of-the-way position and almost looked like a town fair: the ones at Amsterdam 2016 and Rome 2024, which were similar, nevertheless looked better.

·        Shuttle booking: one drawback of the shuttles was that the booking procedure was a bit cumbersome: a separate transaction was needed for each session, and moreover, first all the alternatives were shown, from car parks to public transport; you had to choose and then book and pay. Then, one can discuss whether they could/should have included them in the price, as at many other events (e.g. the Winter Olympics), or perhaps allowed them to be purchased together with the ticket, even with a supplement.

 

 

 I have not talked about merchandising, because I have neither a particularly positive nor a particularly negative opinion of it. Most of the T-shirts (which were sold separately, together with other items from the sponsor) had the larger design on the back, and I do not like that: I bought the only one that was not so. As for the rest, nothing particularly original, but some designs were nice: I bought a tote bag.

 

 

 

 Speaking of aspects that do not depend on the organization, I was positively surprised by the atmosphere, which was much more international than at the 2017 World Championships, which were almost entirely a British event: local participation was such that it almost overshadowed the international one (except in race walking). On the negative side, I mention a personal episode that left a bitter taste in my mouth: a group of Swiss fans dressed in a very distinctive way (they were later seen on TV hugging Werro after her victory) did not want to be photographed, saying that I should have asked permission. Perhaps I could have: I did not do so partly out of shyness, partly because I think candid photos are the best. But in any case, not only were we in a public place, but they were people dressed in a way meant to be noticed. And above all, I do not think they reacted that way in front of the BBC cameras.