Portal:Sport of athletics
Introduction
Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping and throwing. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross-country running, and racewalking.
The results of racing events are decided by finishing position (or time, where measured), while the jumps and throws are won by the athlete that achieves the highest or furthest measurement from a series of attempts. The simplicity of the competitions, and the lack of a need for expensive equipment, makes athletics one of the most common types of sports in the world. Athletics is mostly an individual sport, with the exception of relay races and competitions which combine athletes' performances for a team score, such as cross country.
Organized athletics are traced back to the ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC. The rules and format of the modern events in athletics were defined in Western Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century, and were then spread to other parts of the world. Most modern top level meetings are held under the auspices of World Athletics, the global governing body for the sport of athletics, or its member continental and national federations. (Full article...)
General images -
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An ancient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (from Track and field) -
Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field) -
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Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
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The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field) -
Marion Jones, after admitting to doping, lost her Olympic medals, was banned from the sport, and spent six months in jail. (from Track and field) -
Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle distance world records in the 1940s. (from Track and field) -
A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (from Track and field) -
The Gordon Indoor Track sports an 80-yard sprint straight, and the track is 220 yards in length. (from Track and field) -
Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
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The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running) -
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Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
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The start of a typical cross country race, as an official fires a gun to signal the start (from Cross country running) -
Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field) -
A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field) -
Edvin Wide, Ville Ritola, and Paavo Nurmi (on left) competing in the individual cross country race at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris; due to the hot weather, which exceeded 40 °C (104 °F), only 15 out of 38 competitors finished the race. (from Cross country running) -
The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
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The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field) -
A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running) -
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Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field) -
Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field) -
Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field) -
American athlete Jim Thorpe lost his Olympic medals after taking expense money prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics for playing baseball, a violation of Olympic amateurism rules. (from Track and field) -
A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (from Track and field) -
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field)
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Selected article
The modern Summer Olympic Games have been held every four years since the first Games in 1896 (except 1916 due to the First World War, 1940 and 1944 due to the Second World War, and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and Olympic records are recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in each event. The athletics events, which take place at each Games, are divided into four groups: track events (including sprints, middle- and long-distance running, hurdling and relays), field events (including javelin, discus, hammer, pole vault, long and triple jumps), road events (such as walks and the marathon) and combined events (the heptathlon and the decathlon). Women compete in 23 athletics events during the Games, and men compete in 24; while 21 of the events are the same for both men and women, men exclusively compete in the 50 km walk, the women's combined event is the heptathlon while the men compete in the decathlon, and the short distance hurdles for women is contested over 100 m, ten metres shorter than the men's event.
Some Olympic records have been broken but later rescinded by the IOC. In 1988, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson broke the Olympic and World record in the 100 metres sprint, but was subsequently disqualified after it was discovered that he had used anabolic steroids to enhance his performance. His record was expunged and the gold medal was instead awarded to original silver medalist American Carl Lewis. Hungarian athlete Róbert Fazekas broke the Olympic record in the men's discus in 2004 but was later stripped of both his gold medal and the record after it was deemed that he had "committed an anti-doping rule violation".
The longest standing modern Olympic athletics record is Bob Beamon's achievement in the men's long jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The jump, at 8.90 m (29 ft 2 in), also broke the existing world record by 55 cm (22 in), and stood as the world record for 23 years until Beamon's compatriot, Mike Powell, jumped farther in the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo.
Note, only those events currently competed for and recognised by the IOC as Summer Olympic events are listed. (Full article...)
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Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
4 January:
- Igor Astapkovich, Belarusian hammer thrower
- Nataliya Bochina, Soviet sprinter
- Andrei Krauchanka, Belarusian decathlete
- Marla Runyan, American middle- and long-distance runner
- Pat Ryan, Irish-American hammer thrower
- Eddie Southern, American hurdler and sprinter
- Toru Terasawa, Japanese distance runner
- Marianne Werner, German shot putter
5 January:
- Derrick Atkins, Bahamian sprinter
- Adolfo Consolini, Italian discus thrower
- Giuseppe Gibilisco, Italian pole vaulter
- Derek Johnson, British middle-distance runner
- Veikko Karvonen, Finnish distance runner
- Jack Lovelock, New Zealand middle-distance runner
- Patrik Sjöberg, Swedish high jumper
- Iwan Thomas, British sprinter
- Vadims Vasiļevskis, Latvian javelin thrower
6 January:
- Ajayi Agbebaku, Nigerian triple jumper
- Mike Boit, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Roy Cochran, American hurdler and sprinter
- Ibolya Csák, Hungarian high jumper
- Ludvík Daněk, Czechoslovakian discus thrower
- Vladimir Kazantsev, Soviet steeplechase runner
- Paul Kipkoech, Kenyan distance runner
- Irina Mushailova, Russian long jumper
- Christine Wachtel, German middle-distance runner
7 January:
- Vladimir Dubrovshchik, Belarusian discus thrower
- Charles Jenkins Sr., American sprinter
- Alessandro Lambruschini, Italian steeplechase runner
- Robert LeGendre, American long jumper and pentathlete
- Caster Semenya, South African middle-distance runner
8 January:
- Hollis Conway, American high jumper
- Giovanni De Benedictis, Italian race walker
- Jos Hermens, Dutch distance runner and maanger
- Antti Kalliomäki, Finnish pole vaulter
- Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower
- Calvin Smith, American sprinter
9 January:
- Charles Bacon, American hurdler
- James Beckford, Jamaican long jumper
- Tom Curtis, American hurdler and sprinter
- Tom Evenson, British steeplechase runner
- Lucyna Langer, Polish hurdler
- Sandra Myers, American-Spanish sprinter
- Shigeru So, Japanese distance runner
- Wang Junxia, Chinese distance runner
10 January:
- Mohammed Aman, Ethiopian middle-distance runner
- Chandra Cheeseborough, American sprinter
- Jerome Drayton, Canadian distance runner
- Ariane Friedrich, German high jumper
- Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Guido Kratschmer, German decathlete
- Leonard Patrick Komon, Kenyan distance runner
- Claudia Losch, German shot putter
- George Orton, Canadian steeplechase runner
- Francesco Panetta, Italian distance runner
- Aleksandr Pogorelov, Russian decathlete
- Bill Toomey, American decathlete
Related portals
More did you know
- ... that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach?
- ... that Charlie Fonville broke a 14-year-old shot put world record by almost twelve inches at the 1948 Kansas Relays but was not allowed to stay with the other athletes because he was African-American?
- ... that the Peachtree Road Race, held annually on July 4 (U.S. Independence Day) in Atlanta, Georgia, is the world's largest 10 kilometer road race with 55,000 runners participating in 2007?
- ... that Patrick Ivuti's photo finish victory in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, one of the five major marathons, was his first marathon victory?
| Archive |
Selected biography
Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete and the fastest woman ever recorded. She was married to Al Joyner, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump. He was also her coach and husband during her success as a four-time Olympic medalist. They were married in 1987 until the time of her death, in 1998. They had one daughter together, Mary Joyner. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1980s, she became a popular figure due to both her record-setting athleticism and eclectic personal style.
Griffith Joyner was born and raised in California. She was athletic from a young age and began running at track meets as a child. While attending California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she continued to compete in track and field. While still in college, she qualified for the 100 m 1980 Olympics but did not compete due to the U.S. boycott. She made her Olympic debut four years later, winning a silver medal in the 200 meter distance at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set a new world record in the 100-meter sprint. She won three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics. (Full article...)
| More selected biographies |
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... that Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 52.49 seconds?
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... that Mokulubete Makatisi placed eighth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games women's marathon despite running in new shoes that she had received on the eve of the race?
- ... that at the 2022 British Athletics Championships, Daryll Neita became the first woman since 2010 to win both the 100- and 200-metre events?
- ... that Femke Bol successfully defended her 2021 title by winning the women's 400 metres at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships?
- ... that the championship record was broken three times in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2024 World Athletics Relays?
- ... that Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in an unprecedented double victory?
World records
Topics
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Records in athletics | |||||||||||
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Athletics by country | ||
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Annual awards in athletics and track and field | ||
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Athletics events
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Athletics competitions
From the first edition at the 1896 Summer Games, athletics has been considered the "queen" of the Olympics. Today, there are several other athletics championships organized at global and continental levels. Athletics also serves as the main focus of many multi-sport events such as the World University Games, Mediterranean Games, and Pan American Games. The following is a list of prominent athletics competitions.
| Event | 1st edition | Kind of competition | Can participate |
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| Olympic Games | 1896 | World games |  Worldwide
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| World Championships | 1983 | World championships | |
| World Indoor Championships | 1985 | ||
| European Championships | 1934 | Continental championships | .svg){kind=small} Europe
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| European Indoor Championships | 1966 | ||
| South American Championships | 1919 | .svg){kind=small} South America
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| Asian Championships | 1973 | .svg){kind=small} Asia
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| African Championships | 1979 | .svg){kind=small} Africa
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| Ocenian Championships | 1990 | .svg){kind=small} Oceania
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Federations
- Internationals
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
European Athletics Association (EAA)
Confederation of African Athletics (CAA)
Asian Athletics Association (AAA)
North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association
CONSUDATLE
Oceania Athletics Association (OAA)
- Nationals
Australia: Athletics Australia (AA)
Brazil: Brazilian Athletics Confederation (CBAt)
Canada: Athletics Canada (AC)
Czech: Czech Athletics Federation (ČAS)
France: Fédération française d'athlétisme (FFA)
Germany: German Athletics Association (DLV)
Italy: Italian Athletics Federation (FIDAL)
Jamaica: Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA)
Japan: Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF)
Kenya: Athletics Kenya (AK)
China: Chinese Athletic Association
Norway: Norwegian Athletics Association
Romania: Romanian Athletics Federation
Spain: Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA)
Great Britain: UK Athletics (UKA)
United States: USA Track & Field (USATF)
- Others
Wales: Welsh Athletics (WA)
England: Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA)
Scotland: Scottishathletics
Athletic Association of Small States of Europe (AASSE)
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