Portal:Sport of athletics
Introduction
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...)
General images -
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A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (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) -
Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
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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) -
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The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field) -
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Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
An ancient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (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) -
Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field) -
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A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (from Track and field) -
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The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running) -
A javelin throw athlete (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) -
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 typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (from Track and field) -
The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (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) -
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (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) -
Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field) -
A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field) -
A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running)
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Selected article
Pacing strategies in track and field are the varied strategies which runners use to distribute their energy throughout a race. Optimal strategies exist and have been studied for the different events of track and field. These optimal strategies differ for runners in sprint events, such as the 100 meters, runners in middle-distance events, such as the 800 meters or the mile run, and runners in long-distance events, such as the 5000m or marathon. Additionally, pacing typically differs between different styles of races. For instance, in a time trial, where the goal of a racer is simply to run the fastest time, participants will typically employ the aforementioned optimal pacing strategy. However, in a championship race, where the goal of the racer is to win, the pace is typically slow in the beginning of the race and gradually speeds up for a sprint finish, often meaning the race is run with a negative split. Typically, to run a world record, the runner must employ a near-optimal pacing strategy. (Full article...)
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Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
6 September:
- Süreyya Ayhan, Turkish middle-distance runner
- Darren Clark, Australian sprinter
- Tom Pappas, American decathlete
- Igor Potapovich, Kazakh pole vaulter
7 Septembe:
- Kebede Balcha, Ethiopian distance runner
- Danny Harris, American hurdler
- Heino Puuste, Soviet javelin thrower
- József Várszegi, Hungarian javelin thrower
8 September:
- Amos Biwott, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- Lorraine Fenton, Jamaican sprinter
- Harry Hillman, American hurdler and sprinter
- Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, South African middle-distance runner
- Ioamnet Quintero, Cuban high jumper
- Brian Wellman, Bermudian triple jumper
9 September:
- Daniel Bailey, Antiguan sprinter
- Jon Drummond, American sprinter
- Walter George, British middle- and long-distance runner
- Fortune Gordien, American discus thrower
- Russ Hodge, American decathlete
- Harri Larva, Finnish middle-distance runenr
- John Ljunggren, Swedish race walker
- Sydney Maree, South African-American middle-distance runner
- Brittney Reese, American long jumper
- Andrey Silnov, Russian high jumper
- Fred Tootell, American hammer thrower
10 September:
- Jörg Freimuth, German high jumper
- Uwe Freimuth, German decathlete
- Gebregziabher Gebremariam, Ethiopian distance runner
- Jason Grimes, American long jumper
- Evelyne Hall, American hurdler
- Jim Hines, American sprinter
- Ismail Ahmed Ismail, Sudanese middle-distance runner
- Margitta Pufe, German shot putter and discus thrower
- Ghada Shouaa, Syrian heptathlete
- Gabriel Tiacoh, Ivorian sprinter
11 September:
- Elvan Abeylegesse, Ethiopian-Turkish middle- and long-distance runner
- Valeriy Borchin, Russian race walker
- Libor Charfreitag, Slovakian hammer thrower
- Vivian Cheruiyot, Kenyan distance runner
- Jack Davis, American hurdler
- Giovanni Evangelisti, Italian long jumper
- Nicoleta Grasu, Romanian discus thrower
- Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand, German distance runner
- Henri LaBorde, American discus thrower
- Stan Rowley, Australian sprinter
- Lauryn Williams, American sprinter
12 September:
- Jolanda Čeplak, Slovenian middle-distance runner
- Kamila Chudzik, Polish heptathlete
- Glenn Davis, American hurdler and sprinter
- Fred Kelly, American hurdler
- Helmut Körnig, German sprinter
- Leonel Manzano, American middle-distance runner
- Jesse Owens, American sprinter and long jumper
- Chandra Sturrup, Bahamian sprinter
Related portals
More did you know
- ... that the 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist in the heptathlon was Denise Lewis?
- ... that as part of a publicity stunt, the 1927 Texas Relays held an 89 mile (143 km) running race from San Antonio to Austin?
- ... that Czech decathlete Roman Šebrle, world record holder and 2004 Olympic winner, was injured in January 2007 when a javelin which had been thrown 55 metres pierced his shoulder?
- ... that at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, Yipsi Moreno became world champion in the hammer throw at the age of twenty, improving from an eighteenth place finish in 1999?
| Archive |
Selected biography
Wang Junxia (simplified Chinese: 王军霞; traditional Chinese: 王軍霞; pinyin: Wáng Jūnxiá; born 19 January 1973) is a Chinese former long-distance runner who is the current world record holder at 3,000 meters. She also held the world record for the 10,000 meters for 23 years, between 1993 and 2016, which is a record in itself. Her best years were from 1991 to 1996. Wang was coached by Ma Junren until 1995 and by Mao Dezhen from 1995 to her retirement after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. (Full article...)
In April 1993, Wang set a world-leading time and former Asian best in marathon (2:24:07). In May, she broke the Asian record of 3000 m in a fast time of 8:27.68 in the Chinese National Championships. In August, Chinese women distance runners under coach Ma Junren stunned the world and swept the world titles from 1500 m to 10,000 m in Stuttgart, Germany. Wang claimed the world title in 10,000 m (30:49.30), although she was sick before the race. In less than a month, she went on to win the 3000 m and 10,000 m in the Chinese National Games with three world records in three races.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Wang won the new Olympic event, women's 5000 m (14:59.88) and a silver in the 10,000 m (31:02.58) just a second behind Portuguese Fernanda Ribeiro. Ribeiro made a heroic final lap kick that surprised Wang and perhaps because she was not used to being challenged, she was unable to react to it. In fact, not only did both women's performances better the previous Olympic record in the 10,000 m, they ran it in such high temperatures that officials were handing out cups of water in the middle of the race, like a marathon. She retired after the Olympics and married Zhan Yu.
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in an unprecedented double victory?
- ... 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 hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 52.49 seconds?
- ... that the women's race at today's New York City Marathon will feature two of the medalists from this year's Olympic marathon?
- ... that when the Oakland Athletics promoted Bill McNulty to the major leagues, they needed forest rangers to find him?
- ... that in the 1932 baseball game in which pitcher Eddie Rommel won his last game, he pitched 17 innings in relief, an American League record?
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
World records
Topics
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Records in athletics | |||||||||||
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| Area records |
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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
It's from the first edition (1896 Summer Olympics), that Athletics has been considered the "Queen" of the Olympics. Since then there have been a series of competitions organized at world level, than at the continental level. Furthermore, the Athletics is the main sport of nearly all multi-sport events such as Universiade, Mediterranean Games or Pan American Games. The following list refers to the main Athletics competitions that take place in the world.
| 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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