These days the nineteenth edition of the World Championships in Athletics is being held in Budapest. More than 2,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will participate in it, as announced by the World Athletics Organization in its previous promotional campaign. I didn’t bother to count the athletes, but I did count the countries: 199. Among them, I include the refugee athletes. Since I only counted once, 199 may not be the exact number, it doesn’t matter.
A little work, a little hobby, a little stagnation and a lot of fun we had, here we are again in this tournament, the same city where the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Cup was held, in the middle of winter, when we live in temperatures about 40 degrees lower than now. I stay with those.
But this article does not aim to weep over the heat, which has forced some days’ program to change, but rather to show that more countries participate in various sports than actually exist. This happens not only in athletics, but also in football, as almost any sports fan knows that Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland can play in the European Cup or the World Cup.
At this World Cup tournament in Budapest, 199 countries are represented. In addition, there are many countries that are not here. Let us mention again only three that are also known to the whole world, although for two completely different reasons, Russia, Belarus and the Vatican.
Also, to name a few, three territories represented in Budapest but not considered countries, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, or Guam go there. In athletics, way back in the old days, athletes from Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England would compete on the same team as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The list I like to use as a number of countries is the one that includes the 193 nations of the United Nations, its permanent observers (the Vatican and Palestine), and the two widely recognized observers (Kosovo and Taiwan). Which is 197.
The global and individual nature of athletics allows athletes from many nations to appear in these planetary competitions. In football, more than 200 countries also participate in their respective world championships, although about a hundred of them know that they will never reach the final stage in the days we see.
Faustino Prieto Alfaro
The athlete who illustrates these letters is Faustino Prieto Alvaro from Equatogenia, who was Removed in the fifth series of the 800But the one who leaves Budapest with great experience and his personal best: 2:04.20. Most countries offering only one athlete (everyone is entitled to at least one) tend to opt for the 100 metres, so much so that in this event the preliminary rounds are organized before the series itself.
Brito Alfaro, who has certainly been reminded many times of the character of Sevilla by his last names, has been living in Madrid for about 20 years, when he was 12, since his birth in 1991. His coach is Francisco Carpina from Murcia.
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