The World Athletics Championships will be held in the U.S for the first time ever this July. Hayward Field at the University of Oregon will host over 2,000 athletes from 200+ countries for a week-long track & field meet; making it one of the largest sporting events in 2022.
To celebrate a countdown to these events, our Wolfpack signed up to be part of the celebration. We joined youth groups, schools, and youth track programs all across the US in the World Wide Welcome Youth Relay. Wolfpack was the only youth track team participating from Utah. We were assigned two countries that we specifically welcomed to the events: Namibia and Eswatini.
Before we began our run, we took time to learn some fun facts about each of these two African countries. We also learned about a featured athlete who will may be attending the World Athletics Championships next month.
Fun Facts About Namibia: Namibia has competed in the WCH for the last 15 years and has a population 2.5 million people. The official language is English, but Oshiwambo is also widely spoken. Oryx and kudus are both native to Namibia.
Featured Athlete: Agnes Samaria is a mid-distance runner who holds national records in the 800m and 1500m and finished 6th place at the 2007 World Athletics Championships in the 1500m.
Fun Facts About Eswatini: Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) has competed in the WCH for the last 17 years and has a population 1.17 million people. The official language is English and Swati. Elephants and malami are both native to Eswatini.
Featured Athlete: Priscilla Mamba is a long distance runner who holds national records in the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon. She placed 23rd in the 10,000m in the World Athletics Championships in 1999.
The folks running the World Athletics Championships sent us a couple of banners, a custom baton, and some flags for Eswatini and Namibia. Our Wolfpack athletes were happy to wave and run with these during our one-mile run.
We also made some short video clips that we shared on TikTok and as Instagram reels.
Best of luck to all of the athletes competing!!!
