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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A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running) -
Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (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) -
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) -
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Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field) -
An ancient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (from Track and field) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
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Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
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Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field) -
The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running) -
The Gordon Indoor Track sports an 80-yard sprint straight, and the track is 220 yards in length. (from Track and field) -
A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field) -
A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field) -
Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field) -
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 New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
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) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field) -
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The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field) -
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A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (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) -
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) -
Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field) -
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Selected article
USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin-off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected president Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members (annual individual membership fee: $30 for 18-year-old members and younger, $55 for the rest), but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country, and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money, or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.
USA Track & Field is involved in many aspects of the sport at the local, national, and international level, providing the rules, officials, coaching education, sports science and athlete development, youth programs, masters (age 25+) competition, the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and an annual meeting. It also organizes the annual USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships, the USA Cross Country Championships, the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, and the USATF National Club Track & Field Championships. Through its sanctioning program, the national body provides the insurance coverage necessary for members to rent facilities, thus allowing for competitive opportunities for all athletes to happen. USA Track and Field has held National conventions since the 1870s or 1880s. NAAA Track and Field Championship and Convention locations Dec 3–6, 2020, virtually; earlier announced the 2020 USATF Annual Meeting to be held virtually instead of face-to-face. (Full article...)
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Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
30 November:
- Basil Bennett, American hammer thrower
- Innocent Egbunike, Nigerian sprinter
- Kipkemboi Kimeli, Kenyan distance runner
- Ian Morris, Trinidadian sprinter
- Pauli Nevala, Finnish javelin thrower
- Olga Rypakova, Kazakh triple jumper
1 December:
- Stephanie Brown-Trafton, American discus thrower
- Alberto Cova, Italian distance runner
- Mubarak Hassan Shami, Kenyan-Qatari distance runner
- Hans-Heinrich Sievert, German decathlete
- Alex Wilson, Canadian 400/800 runner
2 December:
- Arvo Askola, Finnish distance runner
- Mike Larrabee, American sprinter
- Taisto Mäki, Finnish distance runner
- Sunder Nix, American sprinter
- Maksim Tarasov, Russian pole vaulter
3 December:
- John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler
- Aleksey Drozdov, Russian decathlete
- Danilo Goffi, Italian distance runner
- Nataliya Grigoryeva, Ukrainian hurdler
- Glenn Hartranft, American shot putter and discus thrower
- Pentti Kahma, Finnish discus thrower
- Kaisa Parviainen, Finnish javelin thrower
- Yelena Zadorozhnaya, Russian distance runner
4 December:
- Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian pole vaulter
- Nathan Douglas, British triple jumper
- Tim Hutchings, British distance runner
- Nixon Kiprotich, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Glynis Nunn, Australian heptathlete and hurdler
- Darvis Patton, American sprinter
5 December:
- Marise Chamberlain, New Zealand middle-distance runner
- Ashia Hansen, British triple jumper
- Patriz Ilg, German steeplechase runner
- Pamela Jelimo, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Linet Masai, Kenyan distance runner
- Falilat Ogunkoya, Nigerian sprinter
- Duane Ross, American hurdler
- Valeriy Spitsyn, Russian race walker
- Juha Tiainen, Finnish hammer thrower
6 December:
- Luis Delís, Cuban discus thrower
- Guy Drut, French hurdler
- Jim Fuchs, American shot putter
- Viktor Lipsnis, Soviet shot putter
- John Mikaelsson, Swedish race walker
- Dwight Stones, American high jumper
- Miklós Szabó, Hungarian middle-distance runner
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
Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) was an American sprinter who overcame childhood polio and went on to become a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field following her successes in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. Rudolph competed in the 200-meter dash and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-meter relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. She also won three gold medals, in the 100- and 200-meter individual events and the 4 x 100-meter relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Rudolph was acclaimed the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.
As an Olympic champion in the early 1960s, Rudolph was among the most highly visible black women in America and abroad. She became a role model for black and female athletes and her Olympic successes helped elevate women's track and field in the United States. Rudolph is also regarded as a civil rights and women's rights pioneer. In 1962 Rudolph retired from competition at the peak of her athletic career as the world record-holder in the 100- and 200-meter individual events and the 4 × 100-meter relays. After competing in the 1960 Summer Olympics, the 1963 graduate of Tennessee State University became an educator and coach. Rudolph died of brain and throat cancer in 1994, and her achievements are memorialized in a variety of tributes, including a U.S. postage stamp, documentary films, and a made-for-television movie, as well as in numerous publications, especially books for young readers. (Full article...)
| More selected biographies |
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... 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 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 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 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?
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
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
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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