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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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) -
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Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (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) -
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A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field) -
Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle distance world records in the 1940s. (from Track and field) -
The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (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) -
The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field) -
Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field) -
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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) -
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A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field) -
Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (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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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) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field) -
The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field) -
An ancient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (from Track and field) -
A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (from Track and field) -
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Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field) -
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Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running) -
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field)
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Selected article
The Jesse Owens Award is an annual track and field award that is the highest accolade given out by USA Track & Field (USATF). As the country's highest award for the sport, it bears Jesse Owens's name in recognition of his significant career, which included four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. First awarded in 1981 to hurdler Edwin Moses, it was created to recognize the season's top American performer in track and field competitions. In 1996, the award was divided into two categories, with both a male and female winner. The 1996 winners, Michael Johnson and Gail Devers, each won two gold medals at that year's Olympics in Atlanta. Until 2008 the award was voted on by members of the United States athletics media only, but in 2009 fans were able to vote via the USATF website, with their opinions contributing 10% of the overall result.
The winners of the award are typically announced in late November or early December after the end of the outdoor track and field season. A number of athletes have received the award on more than one occasion: Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the first to do so with back-to-back wins in 1986 and 1987, while Carl Lewis won his second award in 1991. Michael Johnson was the first to receive the award three times (winning consecutively from 1994 to 1996) and Marion Jones became the first woman to collect three awards after wins in 1997, 1998 and 2002. In 2012, Allyson Felix won the award for the fourth time, thus distinguishing herself as the athlete with the most wins. Winners receive a replica of the award while the original remains on permanent display at the USATF Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. As of 2013, the female version of the award was renamed the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athlete of the Year Award. (Full article...)
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Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
7 November:
- Greg Bell, American long jumper
- Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Jamaican hurdler
- Kathy McMillan, American long jumper
- Sigrun Wodars, German middle-distance runner
8 November:
- Jéssica Augusto, Portuguese distance runner
- Rudolf Harbig, German 400/800 runner
- Lothar Milde, German discus thrower
- Fred Newhouse, American sprinter
- Blanka Vlašić, Croatian high jumper
9 November:
- Lyudmyla Blonska, Ukrainian heptathlete
- Zulia Calatayud, Cuban middle-distance runner
- Alice Coachman, American high jumper
- Egil Danielsen, Norwegian javelin thrower
- Edward Lindberg, American sprinter
- Zsolt Németh, Hungarian hammer thrower
- Jana Pittman, Australian hurdler
10 November:
- Hartwig Gauder, German race walker
- Greg Haughton, Jamaican sprinter
- Jutta Kirst, German high jumper
- Paul Kipsiele Koech, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- James LuValle, American sprinter
- Kenkichi Oshima, Japanese triple jumper
- Mike Powell, American long jumper
- Luciano Sušanj, Yugoslavian middle-distance runner
- Amy Mbacké Thiam, Senegalese sprinter
- Samuel Wanjiru, Kenyan distance runner
11 November:
- Aleksandr Baryshnikov, Soviet shot putter
- Raymond Hecht, German javelin thrower
- Jan Johnson, American pole vaulter
- Elżbieta Krzesińska, Polish long jumper
- Willie May, American hurdler
- Josef Odložil, Czechoslovakian middle-distance runner
- Qieyang Shenjie, Chinese race walker
12 November:
- Maureen Gardner, British hurdler
- Sverre Hansen, Norwegian long jumper
- Toivo Hyytiäinen, Finnish javelin thrower
- Luguelín Santos, Dominican sprinter
13 November:
- Sergey Bakulin, Russian race walker
- Olga Fikotová, Czechoslovakian-American discus thrower
- Manuela Montebrun, French hammer thrower
- Tiffany Porter, American-British hurdler
- Yargelis Savigne, Cuban triple jumper
- Liliya Shobukhova, Russian distance runner
- Kelly Sotherton, British heptathlete
- Anna Verouli, Greek javelin thrower
- Steve Williams, American sprinter
Related portals
More did you know
- ... that Erica Larson, a chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, won the Pikes Peak mountain marathon five times in six years between 1999 and 2004, more than any other woman in the event's history?
- ... that all four deaths in the thirty annual Chicago Marathons have occurred in the last ten years?
- ... that wind assistance has caused the non-ratification of many potential world records in athletics?
- ... 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
Pietro Paolo Mennea (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛːtro menˈnɛːa]; 28 June 1952 – 21 March 2013), nicknamed la Freccia del Sud ("the Arrow of the South"), was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200m event, winning a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and setting a world record at 19.72 seconds in September 1979. This record stood for almost 17 years – the longest duration in the event history – and is still the European record. He is the only male sprinter who has qualified at four consecutive 200 metres Olympic finals: from 1972 to 1984. (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 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 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 Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 52.49 seconds?
- ... 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 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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International youth, junior, and U23 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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