Agency :
French race walker Yohann Diniz on Friday slammed the organisers of the World Athletics Championships in Doha over the way he and his rivals in the 50-kilometre event have been treated compared to the other athletes.
The 41-year-old Frenchman-who is the world record holder and defending world champion in the event-said at a press conference on the eve of the men and women’s 50km walk the walkers had been taken for “idiots” by the organisers in the Qatari capital.
Athletes competing in the stadium will find it air-conditioned to a comfortable 24-25 degrees Celsius.
But race walkers will compete on roads in Doha, leading Diniz to claim they were being treated like “guinea pigs” by having to perform in temperatures expected to be around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) with the added complication of high levels of humidity.
“I am disgusted by the conditions,” the Frenchman said.
French race walker Yohann Diniz on Friday slammed the organisers of the World Athletics Championships in Doha over the way he and his rivals in the 50-kilometre event have been treated compared to the other athletes.
The 41-year-old Frenchman-who is the world record holder and defending world champion in the event-said at a press conference on the eve of the men and women’s 50km walk the walkers had been taken for “idiots” by the organisers in the Qatari capital.
Athletes competing in the stadium will find it air-conditioned to a comfortable 24-25 degrees Celsius.
But race walkers will compete on roads in Doha, leading Diniz to claim they were being treated like “guinea pigs” by having to perform in temperatures expected to be around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) with the added complication of high levels of humidity.
“I am disgusted by the conditions,” the Frenchman said.
