Introduction
Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping. 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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Selected article
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice. Ben Cross and Ian Charleson star as Abrahams and Liddell, alongside Nigel Havers, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Lindsay Anderson, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Brad Davis and Dennis Christopher in supporting roles. Kenneth Branagh and Stephen Fry make their debuts in minor roles.
Chariots of Fire was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score for Vangelis's electronic theme tune. At the 35th British Academy Film Awards, the film was nominated in 11 categories and won in three, including Best Film. It is ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's list of Top 100 British films. (Full article...)
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Athlete birthdays
9 October:
- Sylvio Cator, Haitian long jumper
- Dionicio Cerón, Mexican distance runner
- Peter Elliott, British middle-distance runner
- Deon Hemmings, Jamaican hurdler
- Tatyana Lysenko, Russian hammer thrower
- Blessing Okagbare, Nigerian sprinter
- Steve Ovett, British middle-distance runner
10 October:
- Brian Diemer, American steeplechase runner
- Tatyana Firova, Russian sprinter
- Mario Lanzi, Italian middle-distance runner
- Elana Meyer, South African distance runner
- Mohammed Mourhit, Belgian distance runner
11 October:
- Yelena Belevskaya, Soviet long jumper
- Darrel Brown, Trinidadian sprinter
- Nesta Carter, Jamaican sprinter
- Lee Bong-Ju, Korean distance runner
- Mekonnen Gebremedhin, Ethiopian middle-distance runner
- Hans Liesche, German high jumper
- Alan Pascoe, British hurdler
- Tadeusz Rut, Polish hammer thrower
- Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova, Ukrainian hurdler
- Mal Whitfield, American 400/800 runner
- Níki Xánthou, Greek long jumper
- Juan Carlos Zabala, Argentinian distance runner
12 October:
- Kajsa Bergqvist, Swedish high jumper
- Fons Brijdenbach, Belgian sprinter
- Janay DeLoach, American long jumper
- Truxtun Hare, American thrower
- Marion Jones, American sprinter
- Vitold Kreyer, Soviet triple jumper
- Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai, Kenyan distance runner
- Vita Palamar, Ukrainian high jumper
- Adriaan Paulen, Dutch 400/800 runner and IAAF president
13 October:
- Dwayne Evans, American sprinter
- Detlef Michel, German javelin thrower
- John Regis, British sprinter
- Annegret Richter, German sprinter
- Javier Sotomayor, Cuban high jumper
14 October:
- Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Trinidadian sprinter
- Steve Cram, British middle-distance runner
- Ray Ewry, American standing jumper
- Heinz Fütterer, German sprinter
- Benn Harradine, Australian discus thrower
- Betty Heidler, German hammer thrower
- Richard Mateelong, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- Viktor Röthlin, Swiss distance runner
- Ileana Silai, Romanian middle-distance runner
- Emerson Spencer, American sprinter
15 October:
- Chris Brown, Bahamian sprinter
- Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian-French distance runner
- Chris Gitsham, South African distance runner
- Bobby Morrow, American sprinter
- Saif Saaeed Shaheen, Kenyan-Qatari steeplechase runner
- Tatyana Talysheva, Soviet long jumper
Related portals
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- ... that Amane Gobena is the first Ethiopian runner to win the Osaka Ladies Marathon?
- ... that Oprah Winfrey completed the America's Finest City Half Marathon in 1993, running under a pseudonym and accompanied by a bodyguard, a trainer, and a video crew?
- ... that Sharon Cherop fell over at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon but got back up and ran the fastest marathon ever by a woman in Canada?
- ... that Kenyan athlete Paul Malakwen Kosgei became the World Half Marathon Champion in 2002 despite having never competed in a half marathon before?
- ... that A. K. M. Miraj Uddin set a Pakistani national record in the pole vault by clearing 12 feet 2 inches (3.71 m) with a bamboo pole instead of a carbon-fiber pole?
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Selected biography
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.
Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history". He set three world records and tied another, all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport".
He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited by ESPN with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy".
The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track & Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth-greatest North American athlete of the 20th century and the highest-ranked in his sport. In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... 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 won the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 52.49 seconds?
- ... 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 men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... 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 the championship record was broken three times in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2024 World Athletics Relays?
- ... 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?
World records
Topics
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 |
---|---|---|---|
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 |
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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