Fred Kerley backs Letsile Tebogo in challenging World Athletics to bring back scrapped event

Fred Kerley backs Letsile Tebogo in challenging World Athletics to bring back scrapped event

Abigael Wafula 15:21 - 13.09.2024

Fred Kerley has supported Letsile Tebogo in pleading with World Athletics to bring back an athletics competition that was done away with in 2020.

Olympic 100m bronze medallist Fred Kerley agrees with Letsile Tebogo on the return of the Continental Cup that was done away with in 2020.

The inaugural edition of the event was held in 1977 and went on for 43 years before its operations stopped since the demand for the event was not as strong as other events by World Athletics.

However, Tebogo, the reigning Olympic 200m champion believes it would be a great idea to have the event brought back. Concurring with him is former world champion Kerley who believes it would be great to have the showpiece brought back.

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In a post on his X handle, Tebogo wrote: “We need this meet back. @WorldAthletics. One of the fun meets to have watched.”

In reply to Tebogo’s tweet, Kerley said: “Definitely we need this back.”

Meanwhile, the first edition of the event was held in Germany in 1977 and it is believed to have played a huge role in the launch of the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki.

When it began, eight teams took part in the event including the United States, Europe, East Germany, West Germany and the Soviet Union. Africa, Asia, Oceania and the rest of the Europe squad also participated.

From 1977 to 2006, 10 World Cup events were held with a trophy being awarded to the winning teams. At the time, the trophies were the only forms of prizes awarded to the winning teams.

The event was then rebranded to the Continental Cup and the first event took place in 2010 in Split, a city in Croatia. In the rebranded event, four teams competed for the title, including Asia, Africa, America, and Europe.

The 2014 edition of the event was hosted in Morocco while the final edition of the event held in Ostrava, Czech Republic in 2018.

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