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...)
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Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
There are two race walking distances contested at the Summer Olympics: the 20 kilometres race walk (men and women) and 50 kilometres race walk (men only). Both are held as road events. The biennial World Athletics Championships also featured these two events, in addition to a 50 km walk for women, until 2019. The 50 km race walk was replaced by the 35 kilometres race walk as standard championship discipline in 2022. The IAAF World Race Walking Cup, first held in 1961, is a stand-alone global competition for the discipline and it has 10 kilometres race walks for junior athletes, in addition to the Olympic-standard events. The IAAF World Indoor Championships featured 5000 m and 3000 m race walk variations, but these were discontinued after 1993. Top-level athletics championships and games typically feature 20 km racewalking events. (Full article...)
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Athlete birthdays
26 March:
- Lennart Atterwall, Swedish javelin thrower
- Barbara Jones, American sprinter
- Stig Pettersson, Swedish high jumper
- Tatyana Providokhina, Soviet middle-distance runner
- Violeta Szekely, Romanian middle-distance runner
- Vilho Tuulos, Finnish triple jumper
27 March:
- Nunu Abashidze, Soviet shot putter
- Irina Belova, Russian heptathlete
- Yuliya Golubchikova, Russian pole vaulter
- Jukka Keskisalo, Finnish steeplechase runner
- Aleksandr Klimenko, Ukrainian shot putter
- Antonina Lazareva, Soviet high jumper
- Mihaela Melinte, Romanian hammer thrower
- Dean Starkey, American pole vaulter
28 March:
- Ladji Doucouré, French hurdler
- Harvey Glance, American sprinter
- Evelin Jahl, German discus thrower
- Sylvia Kibet, Kenyan distance runner
- Aksana Miankova, Belarusian hammer thrower
- Martin Sheridan, Irish-American thrower and standing jumper
- Józef Szmidt, Polish triple jumper
- Ilke Wyludda, German discus thrower
- Olga Yegorova, Russian middle- and long-distance runner
29 March:
- Ed Archibald, Canadian pole vaulter
- Kim Batten, American hurdler
- Jim Bausch, American decathlete
- Yusuf Saad Kamel, Kenyan-Bahraini middle-distance runner
- Sigrid Kirchmann, Austrian high jumper
- Voula Patoulidou, Greek hurdler
- Djabir Saïd-Guerni, Algerian middle-distance runner
- Steve Smith, British high jumper
- Ivan Ukhov, Russian high jumper
30 March:
- Paweł Czapiewski, Polish middle-distance runner
- Tommy Green, British race walker
- Josiah McCracken, American thrower
- Mikio Oda, Japanese triple jumper
- István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian middle-distance runner
- Kareem Streete-Thompson, Caymanian-American long jumper
- Obadele Thompson, Barbadian sprinter
- Leonid Voloshin, Russian triple jumper
31 March:
- Roger Black, British sprinter
- Kimmo Kinnunen, Finnish javelin thrower
- Tamara Tyshkevich, Soviet shot putter
- Klaus Wolfermann, German javelin thrower
1 April:
- Ruth Beitia, Spanish high jumper
- Sonia Bisset, Cuban javelin thrower
- Lev Lobodin, Ukrainian-Russian decathlete
- Harlow Rothert, American shot putter
- Robert Shavlakadze, Soviet high jumper
- Andreas Thorkildsen, Norwegian javelin thrower
- Bob Van Osdel, American high jumper
Related portals
More did you know
- ... that Ethiopian long-distance runner Atsede Habtamu set a new course record at the Eindhoven Marathon with her first marathon victory earlier this month?
- ... that 2006 National Capital Marathon winner Amos Tirop Matui was disqualified and received financial compensation due to a misplaced barrier on the course?
- ... that Australian runner Michael Shelley lost his scholarship funding and suffered a broken leg in 2009, but went on to win a silver medal in the marathon at the 2010 Commonwealth Games?
- ... that Irene Kosgei, despite injuring her knee at a drinks station early in the women's marathon at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, edged compatriot Irene Mogaka to become the first Kenyan woman to win a Commonwealth marathon title?
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Michael Duane Johnson (born September 13, 1967) is an American retired sprinter who won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals in the span of his career. He held the world and Olympic records in the 200 m and 400 m, as well as the world record in the indoor 400 m. He also once held the world's best time in the 300 m. Johnson is generally considered one of the greatest and most consistent sprinters in the history of track and field.
Johnson is the only male athlete to win both the 200 meters and 400 meters events at the same Olympics, a feat he accomplished at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Johnson is also the only man to successfully defend his Olympic title in the 400 m, having done so at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Aside from his Olympic success, Johnson accumulated eight gold medals at the World Championships and is tied with Carl Lewis for the fourth most gold medals won by a runner.
Johnson held the US national records for the 200, 300, and 400 meters. The 4 × 400 meters relay world record was anchored by Johnson. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... 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?
- ... that Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?
- ... that every competitor at the 2021 British Athletics Marathon and 20km Walk Trial received a commemorative bonsai tree?
- ... 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 for the first time this century, this year's British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television?
- ... that the women's race at today's New York City Marathon will feature two of the medalists from this year's Olympic marathon?
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 | Genzebe Dibaba | 3:50.07 |
3000 m | Daniel Komen | 7:20.67 | Wang Junxia | 8:06.11 |
5000 m | Joshua Cheptegei | 12:35.36 | Letesenbet Gidey | 14:06.62 |
10,000 m | Joshua Cheptegei | 26:11.00 | Letesenbet Gidey | 29:01.03 |
Half marathon | Jacob Kiplimo | 57:31 | Letesenbet Gidey | 1:02:52 |
Marathon | Eliud Kipchoge | 2:01:39 | Brigid Kosgei | 2:14:04 |
3000 m steeplechase | Saif Saaeed Shaheen | 7:53.63 | 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 | 6.21 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 | 23.37 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 | Lindsay Pelas | — |
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
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 |
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 |
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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