Many athletes could barely fathom winning an Olympic medal in their first season. But Masai Russell could not only boast of doing that but also of winning the gold itself. The athlete took the first position in the 100-meter hurdles race in Paris over Cyrena Samba Mayela and Jasmine Camacho Quinn, who won the same competition in Tokyo.

This made it an incredible achievement for Masai, who was competing in the Olympics for the first time. She earned a lot of plaudits as she was invited to the NFL to celebrate her achievement. However, now that the adrenaline of Paris slowly starts coming down, she must face the problems of track and field, which are not highlighted in the big competition. Masai opened up about that topic recently.

Masai Russell opens up about the big issues in track and field

In her vlog titled ‘Masai Russell: Life after winning the Olympics’, the Olympic gold medalist shared clips of an interview where she talked about the dark side of track and field. The athlete said that despite the sport being immensely popular during the Olympics, it cannot find relevance independent of it. This is because of the confusing broadcasting structure of the sport.

The people who want to watch the sport really struggle to find the service that is showing the event. “If you’re not following a track athlete that is posting on their page when the times we’re going to run and what broadcast is on because there’s so many different platforms,” said Masai. She added that despite the popularity of track during the Olympics, the sport loses its audience because of this confusing structure, which is sad as track and field is a very intriguing sport. “And I mean, it’s just sad because we’re one of the most watched sports during the Olympics, and people only know about track during the Olympics. Track is a very interesting sport.”

While the problems discussed by Masai are definitely valid, these might decrease soon as rich cash-funded projects like Athlos and Grand Slam Track start taking over the sport with attention to drawing as many viewers as they can. This is one of the reasons Masai Russell signed for the league, along with the whole podium of 100m hurdles at the Olympic final.

Masai Russell is all set to take part in the cash-filled Grand Slam Track

Masai Russell signed on for Grand Slam Track on September 24th. The Olympic gold medalist was joined by the other two athletes on the podium in Paris, who were Cyréna Samba-Mayela and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. The athlete, who also holds the 100-hurdle record at the NCAA level, believed that Grand Slam Track would help her continue competing at the top level.

“Coming off the Olympics, I want to continue regularly competing at the highest level, against the best in the world, and I’m certain that Grand Slam Track is the place for that,” said Masai Russell in her signing statement. This was a huge coup for GST too, as they could now have three of the best 100-meter hurdlers in the world compete in their league.

For Masai, it also meant an increase in the spectators watching her just like she wanted. The athlete has been very open to taking part in this new revolution of track and field, as she was also a part of Alexis Ohanian’s Athlos. She talked about how the tournament can help the female track and the good work Alexis Ohanian was doing during the ESPN interview, which was later featured on her vlog.

She said, “But track is on; you just don’t know where to find it… So now that we have the eyes aligned with the team that’s trying to show us to the world, I feel like it’s just going to continue to blow. I just think it’s kind of unfortunate that someone outside of the track space had to really realize that and understand the growth that our sport is capable of. It’s just sad.” Thus, Masai Russell seems to be quite interested in track and field’s future. This initiative of hers could solidify her as the future face of the sport for years to come. The athlete definitely can do so.