Sat Mar 29, 1:44 PM ET

EDINBURGH (AFP) - The world cross-country championships take place here on Sunday but its lack of global appeal means that you would be hard pushed to find a non-African runner pushing for a top-20 finish.

The decline of European middle- and long-distance runners, argues Sebastian Coe, the 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1500 metres champion and now the London 2012 Olympics chief, is directly linked to a disinterest in cross-country running.

The last non-African-born runner to make the podium at a world cross event was Benita Johnson of Australia with a gold medal in 2004.