World Athletics Convention inspires innovation action
12th September 2025Inspired by the trail blazed by keynote speaker Bob Weis, the former President of Walt Disney Imagineering, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe reinforced the imperative that innovation drives the future of athletics during his opening speech for the World Athletics Convention on Thursday (11).
“As you have all heard me say, many times: our core activity is sport, but our business has to be entertainment,” Coe said during his opening remarks for the Convention, held ahead of the 55th World Athletics Congress in Tokyo. “Bob has refined and re-engineered ‘entertainment’ with his relentless focus on the customer, the experience and the storytelling.
“This is why I am delighted that Bob is able to join us today, to share some of his stories and sprinkle a little bit of that Disney magic.”
Weis is a dreamer who believes that if you can imagine it, you can do it. He was an Imagineer for more than 40 years and was President of Walt Disney Imagineering from 2016 to 2021.
Ahead of the speech by Weis, Coe encouraged the athletics association and member federation representatives present to consider where they sit, and where World Athletics sits, when it comes to using innovation to drive growth.
“It has to create momentum,” Coe added. “It has to drive organisations forward.”