Portal:Sport of athletics

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Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. 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...)

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  Image 1A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking)
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  Image 2American 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)
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  Image 3Ajavelin throw athlete (from Track and field)
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  Image 4A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (from Track and field)
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  Image 5Panathenaic StadiuminAthens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field)
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  Image 6The Gordon Indoor Track sports an 80-yard sprint straight, and the track is 220 yards in length. (from Track and field)
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  Image 7Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking)
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  Image 8A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field)
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  Image 9The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running)
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  Image 10The pole vault competition at the 2007 Pan American Games (from Track and field)
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  Image 11A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (from Track and field)
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  Image 12Edvin 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)
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  Image 13Anna Giordano Bruno releases the pole after clearing the bar in pole vault (from Track and field)
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  Image 14The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field)
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  Image 15Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field)
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  Image 16The 2006 European Athletics ChampionshipsatUllevi Stadium (from Track and field)
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  Image 17The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field)
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  Image 18Remigius Machura preparing to throw within the circle in shot put (from Track and field)
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  Image 19Yury Shayunou spinning with the hammer within the circle in hammer throw (from Track and field)
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  Image 20Marion Jones, after admitting to doping, lost her Olympic medals, was banned from the sport, and spent six months in jail. (from Track and field)
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  Image 21Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field)
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  Image 22Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field)
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  Image 23The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running)
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  Image 24Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (from Track and field)
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  Image 25An early model of hurdling at the Detroit Athletic Club in 1888 (from Track and field)
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  Image 26The start of a typical cross country race, as an official fires a gun to signal the start (from Cross country running)
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  Image 27Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country ChampionshipsinAlbufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running)
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  Image 28AnAncient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (from Track and field)
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  Image 29Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field)
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  Image 30Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle distance world records in the 1940s. (from Track and field)
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  Image 31A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running)
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  Image 32A woman attempting to high jump while using the Fosbury Flop technique (from Track and field)
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  Image 33Zoltán Kővágó preparing to spin and throw in discus throw (from Track and field)
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  Image 34A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field)
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  Image 35Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field)
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  Image 36Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field)

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The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athleticsinEurope. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 members and is headquartered in Lausanne.

Originally created in 1932 as a European Committee, it was made into an independent body during the Bucharest conference of 1969. The first European Athletics congress took place in Paris on 6–8 October 1970, with Dutchman Adriaan Paulen elected as its first president. From a volunteer-led organization based in the acting Secretary's home country, European Athletics has developed into a professional organization with a permanent base in Switzerland.

European Athletics runs and regulates several championships and meetings across Europe – both indoor and outdoor. (Full article...)

Selected picture

Long jump

Credit: Yorkshire Track and Field Championships-Jess Ennis

Athlete birthdays

23 June:

• Filbert Bayi, Tanzanian runner
• Oliver-Sven Buder, German shot putter
• Dick Cochran, American discus thrower
• Abel Kiviat, American middle-distance runner
• Norman Pritchard, Indian sprinter
• Fernanda Ribeiro, Portuguese distance runner
• Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter
• Nicola Sanders, British sprinter

24 June:

• Mutaz Essa Barshim, Qatari high jumper
• Raelene Boyle, Australian sprinter
• Frank Waller, American sprinter and hurdler

25 June:

• Lutz Dombrowski, German long jumper
• Sébastien Levicq, French decathlete
• Maurren Maggi, Brazilian long jumper
• Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete
• Frank Paschek, German long jumper
• John Powell, American discus thrower

• Natalya Antyukh, Russian sprinter and hurdler
• Inga Babakova, Ukrainian high jumper
• Paul Bitok, Kenyan distance runner
• Babe Didrikson, American all-rounder
• Priscah Jeptoo, Kenyan distance runner
• Geir Moen, Norwegian sprinter
• Jai Taurima, Australian long jumper

27 June:

• Gabriella Dorio, Italian middle-distance runner
• Vasiliy Kaptyukh, Belarusian discus thrower
• LaShawn Merritt, American sprinter
• Gene Venzke, American middle-distance runner

28 June:

• Adrián Annus, Hungarian hammer thrower
• Ibrahim Camejo, Cuban long jumper
• Anişoara Cuşmir, Romanian long jumper
• Belayneh Dinsamo, Ethiopian distance runner
• Howard Drew, American sprinter
• Lloyd LaBeach, Panamanian sprinter
• Guillermo Martínez, Cuban javelin thrower
• Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter
• Fabrizio Mori, Italian hurdler
• Lars Riedel, German discus thrower
• Hans-Joachim Walde, German decathlete
• Zhong Huandi, Chinese distance runner

Related portals

Olympic Games

Sports

More did you know

Terry Fox in Toronto during his Marathon of Hope cross-country run (July 1980)

Terrance Stanley Fox CC OD (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$850 million has been raised in his name as of September 2022.

Fox was a distance runner and basketball player for his Port Coquitlam high school, now named after him, and Simon Fraser University. His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, though he continued to run using an artificial leg. He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships.

In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. He hoped to raise one dollar from each of Canada's 24 million people. He began with little fanfare from St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon every day. Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money. He was forced to end his run outside Thunder Bay when the cancer spread to his lungs. His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his run ended when he died nine months later.

Fox was the youngest person named a Companion of the Order of Canada and won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation's top sportsman. He was named Canada's Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981 by The Canadian Press. Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, statues, roads, and parks named in his honour across the country. (Full article...)

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• ... that for the first time this century, this year's British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television?

World records

Event	Men	Record	Women	Record
100 m	Usain Bolt	9.58	Florence Griffith Joyner	10.49
200 m	Usain Bolt	19.19	Florence Griffith Joyner	21.34
400 m	Wayde van Niekerk	43.03	Marita Koch	47.60
800 m	David Rudisha	1:40.91	Jarmila Kratochvílová	1:53.28
1500 m	Hicham El Guerrouj	3:26.00	Faith Kipyegon	3:49.11
5000 m	Joshua Cheptegei	12:35.36	Gudaf Tsegay	14:00.21
10,000 m	Joshua Cheptegei	26:11.00	Letesenbet Gidey	29:01.03
Marathon	Kelvin Kiptum	2:00:35	Brigid Kosgei	2:14:04
3000 m steeplechase	Lamecha Girma	7:52.11	Beatrice Chepkoech	8:44.32
110 / 100 m hurdles	Aries Merritt	12.80	Tobi Amusan	12.12
400 m hurdles	Karsten Warholm	45.94	Sydney McLaughlin	50.68
High jump	Javier Sotomayor	2.45 m	Stefka Kostadinova	2.09 m
Pole vault	Armand Duplantis	6.23 m	Yelena Isinbayeva	5.06 m
Long jump	Mike Powell	8.95 m	Galina Chistyakova	7.52 m
Triple jump	Jonathan Edwards	18.29 m	Yulimar Rojas	15.74 m
Shot put	Ryan Crouser	23.56 m	Natalya Lisovskaya	22.63 m
Discus throw	Jürgen Schult	74.08 m	Gabriele Reinsch	76.80 m
Hammer throw	Yuriy Sedykh	86.74 m	Anita Włodarczyk	82.98 m
Javelin throw	Jan Železný	98.48 m	Barbora Špotáková	72.28 m
Decathlon/Heptathlon	Kevin Mayer	9126 pts.	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	7291 pts.
20 km racewalk	Yusuke Suzuki	1:16:36	Yang Jiayu	1:23:49
4×100 m relay	Jamaica	36.84	United States	40.82
4×400 m relay	United States	2:54.29	Soviet Union	3:15.17

See also: List of world records in athletics

Athletics events

Athletics competitions

Event	1st edition	Kind of competition	Can participate
Olympic Games	1896	World games	Worldwide
World Championships	1983	World championships
World Indoor Championships	1985
European Championships	1934	Continental championships	Europe
European Indoor Championships	1966
South American Championships	1919		South America
Asian Championships	1973		Asia
African Championships	1979		Africa
Ocenian Championships	1990		Oceania

More about Athletics competitions

Federations

• 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)

More about Athletics organizations

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