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...)
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Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field) -
Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
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A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field) -
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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) -
Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (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) -
Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle distance world records in the 1940s. (from Track and field) -
A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (from Track and field) -
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The Gordon Indoor Track sports an 80-yard sprint straight, and the track is 220 yards in length. (from Track and field) -
Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field) -
The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
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) -
A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running) -
Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field) -
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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 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) -
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Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field) -
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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) -
Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field) -
A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (from Track and field)
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Selected article
The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) is the National Sports Association (NSA) for athletics sports such as track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking in the Philippines, including the core athletics sports which constitute the Decathlon in the Olympic Games. PATAFA is also a member of the Asian Athletics (AA) and the World Athletics. (Full article...)
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Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
8 January:
- Hollis Conway, American high jumper
- Giovanni De Benedictis, Italian race walker
- Jos Hermens, Dutch distance runner and maanger
- Antti Kalliomäki, Finnish pole vaulter
- Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower
- Calvin Smith, American sprinter
9 January:
- Charles Bacon, American hurdler
- James Beckford, Jamaican long jumper
- Tom Curtis, American hurdler and sprinter
- Tom Evenson, British steeplechase runner
- Lucyna Langer, Polish hurdler
- Sandra Myers, American-Spanish sprinter
- Shigeru So, Japanese distance runner
- Wang Junxia, Chinese distance runner
10 January:
- Mohammed Aman, Ethiopian middle-distance runner
- Chandra Cheeseborough, American sprinter
- Jerome Drayton, Canadian distance runner
- Ariane Friedrich, German high jumper
- Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Guido Kratschmer, German decathlete
- Leonard Patrick Komon, Kenyan distance runner
- Claudia Losch, German shot putter
- George Orton, Canadian steeplechase runner
- Francesco Panetta, Italian distance runner
- Aleksandr Pogorelov, Russian decathlete
- Bill Toomey, American decathlete
11 January:
- Thomas Hicks, American distance runner
- Luise Krüger, German javelin thrower
- Oleksiy Lukashevych, Ukrainian long jumper
- Madeline Manning, American middle-distance runner
- Luis Miguel Martín, Spanish steeplechase runner
- Charles Porter, Australian high jumper
12 January:
- Brendan Foster, British distance runner
- Chaunté Howard-Lowe, American high jumper
- Spyridon Louis, Greek distance runner
- John Walker, New Zealand middle-distance runner
- Grigoriy Yegorov, Kazakhstani pole vaulter
13 January:
- Nathaniel Cartmell, American sprinter
- Jack London, British sprinter
- Julio Rey, Spanish distance runner
- Gloria Siebert, German hurdler
- Willem Slijkhuis, Dutch middle- and long-distance runner
- Alan Webb, American middle-distance runner
14 January:
- James Corson, American discus thrower
- Shawn Crawford, American sprinter
- Al Feuerbach, American shot putter
- Hyleas Fountain, American heptathlete
- Vasiliy Khmelevskiy, Soviet hammer thrower
- Thomas Longosiwa, Kenyan distance runner
- Olive Loughnane, Irish race walker
- Fiţa Lovin, Romanian middle-distance runner
- Concepción Montaner, Spanish long jumper
- Vasilka Stoyeva, Bulgarian discus thrower
Related portals
More did you know
- ... that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach?
- ... that Charlie Fonville broke a 14-year-old shot put world record by almost twelve inches at the 1948 Kansas Relays but was not allowed to stay with the other athletes because he was African-American?
- ... that the Peachtree Road Race, held annually on July 4 (U.S. Independence Day) in Atlanta, Georgia, is the world's largest 10 kilometer road race with 55,000 runners participating in 2007?
- ... 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
Walter Dix (born January 31, 1986) is a retired American sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the seventh-fastest 200-meter runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters, with a best of 9.88 (9.80w) seconds. He was the only track athlete from USA to win 2 individual Olympic medals in Beijing.
Dix was a highly successful amateur athlete, setting a state record in the 100 m and trying out for the US Olympic Team at the age of eighteen. He joined Florida State University and in his first year he broke the 100 m American junior record and won at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. After a fourth-place finish at the 2005 US Championships, Dix continued with his collegiate success, setting an NCAA record of 19.69 seconds in the 200 m and coming within one hundredth of the 100 m record. He completed a 100 m, 200 m, and 4×100 meter relay sweep at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the first to do so since John Carlos in 1969. He closed his amateur career in 2008: another NCAA 200 m title made him the third most decorated track athlete in NCAA history, and he won gold and silver at the 2008 US Olympic Trials.
Dix turned professional in mid-2008, signing a multimillion-dollar contract with Nike. He reached the Olympic finals in the 100 and 200 m, and won two bronze medals; the only American track athlete to win two individual medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He suffered an injury at the 2009 US Championships, thus missing out on the World Championships, and a contract dispute with his agent resulted in only a handful of appearances that season. In 2011 he was both the 100 and 200 m American champion and won silver medals in the events at the 2011 World Championships. An injury at the 2012 Olympic trials meant he missed a second Olympic appearance. (Full article...)
| More selected biographies |
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... 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 at the 2022 British Athletics Championships, Daryll Neita became the first woman since 2010 to win both the 100- and 200-metre events?
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... that Femke Bol successfully defended her 2021 title by winning the women's 400 metres at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships?
- ... 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 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
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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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