Portal:Sport of athletics
Introduction
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. (Full article...)
General images -
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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) -
Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (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) -
The start of a typical cross country race, as an official fires a gun to signal the start (from Cross country running) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field) -
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field) -
The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (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) -
The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field) -
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) -
Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field) -
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A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (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 Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running) -
A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (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) -
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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) -
Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field) -
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Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle distance world records in the 1940s. (from Track and field) -
Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field) -
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) -
Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
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_-_The_Winners_of_the_10,000_M_Walk.jpg)
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. Up 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 1994–1996) 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...)| More selected articles |
Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
30 April:
- Daniela Costian, Romanian-Australian discus thrower
- Margit Papp, Hungarian pentathlete
1 May:
- Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish distance runner
- Lornah Kiplagat, Kenyan-Dutch distance runner
- Mikhail Krivonosov, Soviet hammer thrower
- Ollie Matson, American sprinter
- Bryshon Nellum, American sprinter
- Michelle Perry, American hurdler
- Vasiliy Sidorenko, Russian hammer thrower
- Marina Stepanova, Soviet hurdler
- John Svanberg, Swedish distance runner
- Archie Williams, American sprinter
2 May:
- Tim Benjamin, British sprinter
- James Dillion, American discus thrower
- Bill Horr, American discus thrower
- Taťána Kocembová, Czechoslovakian sprinter
- Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter
3 May:
- Jamie Baulch, British sprinter
- Edmund Black, American hammer thrower
- Mary Cain, American middle-distance runner
- Kathy Cook, British sprinter
- Jörg Drehmel, German triple jumper
- Vasily Rudenkov, Soviet hammer thrower
- Anastasiya Shvedova, Belarusian pole vaulter
- Dai Tamesue, Japanese hurdler
- Allan Wells, British sprinter
4 May':
- Silvia Costa, Cuban high jumper
- Wolrad Eberle, German decathlete
- Ulrike Meyfarth, German high jumper
- Pekka Päivärinta, Finnish distance runner
5 May:
- Mabel Gay, Cuban triple jumper
- Heike Henkel, German high jumper
- Igor Kashkarov, Soviet high jumper
- Meb Keflezighi, American distance runner
- Jorge Llopart, Spanish race walker
- Francine Niyonsaba, Burundian middle-distance runner
- Steve Scott, American middle-distance runner
6 May:
- Lyudmila Andonova, Bulgarian high jumper
- Bernard Barmasai, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- Daniela Bártová, Czech pole vaulter
- Andreas Busse, German middle-distance runner
- Gerd Kanter, Estonian discus thrower
- Wolfgang Reinhardt, German pole vaulter
- Kaliese Spencer, Jamaican hurdler
- Naoko Takahashi, Japanese distance runner
- Roland Wieser, German race walker
Related portals
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| Archive |
Selected biography
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Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner; October 28, 1949; known as Bruce Jenner until 2015) is an American media personality and former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. (Full article...)
Jenner was the American champion in the men's decathlon event in 1974, and was featured on the cover of Track & Field News magazine's August 1974 issue.[1][2] While on tour in 1975, Jenner won the French national championship,[3] and a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, setting the tournament record with 8,045 points.[4] This was followed by world records of 8,524 points at the U.S.A./U.S.S.R./Poland triangular meet in Eugene, Oregon, on August 9–10, 1975, breaking Avilov's record,[5] and 8,538 points at the 1976 Olympic trials, also in Eugene.[6][7] The second Eugene record was a hybrid score because of a timing system failure and it was wind aided. Still, Jenner was proud of "A nice little workout, huh?"
We got what we wanted. We scared the hell out of everybody in the world only a month away from the Games.[8]
Of the 13 decathlons Jenner competed in between 1973 and 1976, the only loss was at the 1975 AAU National Championships, when a "no height" in the pole vault marred the score.[4]
At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Jenner achieved personal bests in all five events on the first day of the men's decathlon – a "home run" – despite being in second place behind Guido Kratschmer of West Germany. Jenner was confident: "The second day has all my good events. If everything works out all right, we should be ahead after it's all over." Following a rainstorm on the second day, Jenner watched teammate Fred Dixon get injured in the 110 meter hurdles[9] and so adopted a cautious approach to the hurdles and discus, then had personal bests in the pole vault, when Jenner took the lead, and javelin.[10] At that point, victory was virtually assured, and it remained to be seen by how much Jenner would improve the record. In the final event – the 1500 meters, which was seen live on national television – Jenner looked content to finish the long competition. Jenner sprinted the last lap, making up a 50-meter deficit and nearly catching the event favorite, Soviet Leonid Litvinenko, who was already well out of contention for the gold medal, and whose personal best had been eight seconds better than Jenner's personal best before the race. Jenner set a new personal best time and won the gold medal with a world-record score of 8,618 points.[11][6][12][13][14]
| More selected biographies |
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?
- ... that in the 1932 baseball game in which pitcher Eddie Rommel won his last game, he pitched 17 innings in relief, an American League record?
- ... that German runner Alica Schmidt, who is running in the Women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, has won multiple European junior relay medals?
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World records
| 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 | Faith Kipyegon |
3:49.11 |
| 5000 m |  Joshua Cheptegei |
12:35.36 |  Gudaf Tsegay |
14:00.21 |
| 10,000 m | Joshua Cheptegei |
26:11.00 | Letesenbet Gidey |
29:01.03 |
| Marathon | Kelvin Kiptum |
2:00:35 | Brigid Kosgei |
2:14:04 |
| 3000 m steeplechase | Lamecha Girma |
7:52.11 | Beatrice Chepkoech |
8:44.32 |
| 110 / 100 m hurdles | Aries Merritt |
12.80 |  Tobi Amusan |
12.12 |
| 400 m hurdles |  Karsten Warholm |
45.94 | Sydney McLaughlin |
50.68 |
| High jump |  Javier Sotomayor |
2.45 m |  Stefka Kostadinova |
2.09 m |
| Pole vault |  Armand Duplantis |
6.23 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 |  Yulimar Rojas |
15.74 m |
| Shot put | Ryan Crouser |
23.56 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 |  Yusuke Suzuki |
1:16:36 |  Yang Jiayu |
1:23:49 |
| 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 |
Topics
| Track |
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Athletics by country | ||
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Annual awards in athletics and track and field | ||
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| Additions (2020- ) | |
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Athletics events
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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
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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
| |
| 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)
Categories
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Dictionary and thesaurus
Sources
- ^ "1974 Covers (18-issue year)". Track & Field News. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
- ^ "USA Outdoor Track & Field Hall of Fame". USA Track & Field. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ "French Championships". gbrathletics.com. 2007. Archived from the original on December 26, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
- ^ a b Mike Sielski (November 19, 2003). "Jenner true to word, wins Olympic gold". ESPN Classic. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
- ^ Conrad, John (August 11, 1975). "Jenner gets his record – handily". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- ^ a b Richard Hymans (2008). "The History of the United States Olympic trials – Track and Field" (PDF). USA Track and Field. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
- ^ Conrad, John (June 27, 1976). "Brigham's Olympian hopes at end". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- ^ Litsky, Frank (June 27, 1976). "Jenner Triumphs In Decathlon Trial". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
- ^ "Heading For The 11th Event". Sports Illustrated Vault | Si.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
- ^ "Bruce Jenner Javelin Record". brucejennerinterviews.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ Maury White. "Bruce Jenner". The Des Moines Register. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ Arash Markazi (July 30, 2015). "Bruce Jenner became an Olympic icon exactly 39 years ago". ESPN. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ "Athletics at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games: Men's Decathlon". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ "Jenner's long haul pays off with gold and world mark". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. July 31, 1976. p. 1B. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
