Portal:Sport of athletics
THE ATHLETICS PORTAL
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.
The athletics meeting forms the backbone of the Summer Olympics. The foremost international athletics meeting is the World Athletics Championships, which incorporates track and field, marathon running and race walking. Other top level competitions in athletics include the World Athletics Cross Country Championships and the World Half Marathon Championships. Athletes with a physical disability compete at the Summer Paralympics and the World Para Athletics Championships.
The word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētēs, "combatant in public games") from ἆθλον (athlon, "prize") or ἆθλος (athlos, "competition"). Initially, the term described athletic contests in general – i.e. sporting competition based primarily on human physical feats. In the 19th century, the term athletics acquired a more narrow definition in Europe and came to describe sports involving competitive running, walking, jumping and throwing. This definition continues to be prominent in the United Kingdom and the former British Empire. Related words in Germanic and Romance languages also have a similar meaning.
In much of North America, athletics is synonymous with sports in general, maintaining the historical usage of the term. The word "athletics" is rarely used to refer to the sport of athletics in this region. Track and field is preferred, and is used in the United States and Canada to refer to athletics events, including racewalking and marathon running (although cross country running is typically considered a separate sport). (Full article...)
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 |
---|---|---|---|
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 |
Selected article
The IAAF Athlete of the Year award is a prize that can be won by athletes participating in events within the sport of athletics organised by the International Athletic Foundation of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), including track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking.
- Last winners
More selected articles... | More about...IAAF World Athlete of the Year |
Selected biography
Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American track and field sprinter. His primary events are the 100 meters and 200 meters. His personal bests establish him as the second fastest athlete in the 100 meters and the fifth fastest athlete in the history of the 200 meters, with times of 9.69 (which is a United States record) and 19.58 seconds respectively. Gay has won numerous medals in major international competitions, including a gold medal sweep of the 100 m, 200 m and 4 x 100 meters relay at the 2007 Osaka World Championships. This made Gay the second sprinter to win all three events at the same World Championships, after Maurice Greene.
- Recent achievement
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Performance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | World Championships in Athletics | Osaka, Japan | 1st | 100 m | 9.85 |
2007 | World Championships in Athletics | Osaka, Japan | 1st | 200 m | 19.76 |
2007 | World Championships in Athletics | Osaka, Japan | 1st | 4x100 m relay | 37.78 |
2009 | World Championships in Athletics | Berlin, Germany | 2nd | 100 m | 9.71 |
2009 | IAAF World Athletics Final | Thesaloniki, Greece | 1st | 100 m | 9.88 |
Archive | More about...Tyson Gay |
World records
- As of 29 September 2019
Event | Men | Record | Women | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|
100 m | Usain Bolt | 9.58 | Florence Griffith Joyner | 10.49 |
200 m | Usain Bolt | 19.19 | Florence Griffith Joyner | 21.34 |
400 m | Wayde van Niekerk | 43.03 | Marita Koch | 47.60 |
800 m | David Rudisha | 1:40.91 | Jarmila Kratochvílová | 1:53.28 |
1500 m | Hicham El Guerrouj | 3:26.00 | Genzebe Dibaba | 3:50.07 |
3000 m | Daniel Komen | 7:20.67 | Wang Junxia | 8:06.11 |
5000 m | Kenenisa Bekele | 12:37.35 | Tirunesh Dibaba | 14:11.15 |
10,000 m | Kenenisa Bekele | 26:17.53 | Almaz Ayana | 29:17.45 |
Half marathon | Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor | *58:01 | Joyciline Jepkosgei | 1:04:51 |
Marathon | Eliud Kipchoge | 2:01:39 | Paula Radcliffe | 2:15:25 |
3000 m steeplechase | Saif Saaeed Shaheen | 7:53.63 | Beatrice Chepkoech | 8:44.32 |
110 / 100 m hurdles | Aries Merritt | 12.80 | Yordanka Donkova | 12.21 |
400 m hurdles | Kevin Young | 46.78 | Dalilah Muhammad | 52.20 |
High jump | Javier Sotomayor | 2.45 m | Stefka Kostadinova | 2.09 m |
Pole vault | Renaud Lavillenie | 6.16 m | Yelena Isinbayeva | 5.06 m |
Long jump | Mike Powell | 8.95 m | Galina Chistyakova | 7.52 m |
Triple jump | Jonathan Edwards | 18.29 m | Inessa Kravets | 15.50 m |
Shot put | Randy Barnes | 23.12 m | Natalya Lisovskaya | 22.63 m |
Discus throw | Jürgen Schult | 74.08 m | Gabriele Reinsch | 76.80 m |
Hammer throw | Yuriy Sedykh | 86.74 m | Anita Włodarczyk | 82.98 m |
Javelin throw | Jan Železný | 98.48 m | Barbora Špotáková | 72.28 m |
Decathlon/Heptathlon | Kevin Mayer | 9126 pts. | Jackie Joyner-Kersee | 7291 pts. |
20 km racewalk | Vladimir Kanaykin | 1:17:16 | Liu Hong | 1:24:38 |
50 km racewalk | Yohann Diniz | 3:32:33 | — | — |
4×100 m relay | Jamaica | 36.84 | United States | 40.82 |
4×400 m relay | United States | 2:54.29 | Soviet Union | 3:15.17 |
Selected picture
Did you know...
- ... 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?
Archive |
Athlete birthdays
22 October:
- Tiki Gelana, Ethiopian distance runner
- Mick Hill, British javelin thrower
- Henry Lauterbach, German long- and high jumper
- José Manuel Martínez, Spanish distance runner
- László Szalma, Hungarian long jumper
23 October:
- František Douda, Czech shot putter
- Beatrice Faumuina, New Zealand discus thrower
- Jack Keller, American hurdler
- Charles Kilpatrick, American middle-distance runner
- Anisya Kirdyapkina, Russian race walker
- Miklós Németh, Hungarian javelin thrower
- Frank Schaffer, German sprinter
- Stanislav Yemelyanov, Russian race walker
24 October:
- Abel Antón, Spanish distance runner
- Bill Carr, American sprinter
- Matt Hemingway, American high jumper
- Stephen Kipkorir, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Victor Moya, Cuban high jumper
- Peter O'Connor, Irish long- and triple jumper
- Jim Peters, British distance runner
- Christian Reif, German long jumper
25 October:
- Bud Held, American javelin thrower
- Gary Reed, Canadian middle-distance runner
- Dave Weill, American discus thrower
26 October:
- Hanns Braun, German 400/800 runner
- Deriba Merga, Ethiopian distance runner
- Aki Parviainen, Finnish javelin thrower
- Paul Pilgrim, American 400/800 runner
- Joyce Smith, British middle- and long-distance runner
27 October:
- Robbie Brightwell, British sprinter
- Luis Brunetto, Argentinian triple jumper
- John Capel, American sprinter
- Michèle Chardonnet, French hurdler
- Edvard Larsen, Norwegian triple jumper
- Atlee Mahorn, Canadian sprinter
- Tom McKean, British middle-distance runner
- Maria Mutola, Mozambican middle-distance runner
- Christiane Wartenberg, German middle-distance runner
28 October:
- James B. Connolly, American jumper
- Daniel García, Mexican race walker
- Tommy Hampson, British middle-distance runner
- Bruce Jenner, American decathlete
- Tom Lieb, American discus thrower
- Isabella Ochichi, Kenyan distance runner
- Nadzeya Ostapchuk, Belarusian shot putter
- Bruno Söderström, Swedish pole vaulter
Topics
Governing bodies
International Association of Athletics Federations • Association of Summer Olympic International Federations • SportAccord
Category of athletics
Junior • Youth • Masters
IAAF competitions
World Championships • World Indoor Championships • Continental Cup • Diamond League • World Athletics Final
EAA competitions
European Championships • European Indoor Championships • European Team Championships
Athletics events
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- Others
Track and field • Road running • Race walking • Cross country running • Multiday race • Ultramarathon • Wheelchair racing • Backward running • Ultra-Multievents
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)
Categories
Related Portals
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