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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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) -
Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field) -
The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running) -
A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field) -
A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field) -
The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
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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) -
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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) -
A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (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) -
Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field) -
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The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
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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) -
Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
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The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (from Track and field) -
Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field) -
An ancient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (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) -
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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Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field) -
A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running)
Selected article
The European 10,000m Cup is an annual 10,000 metres race for European athletes which was first held in 1997. The competition is organised by the European Athletics Association and first began as the European 10000 Metres Challenge (European 10,000m Challenge till 2005 edition), after the event was removed from the European Cup programme. The competition has roots in the Iberian 10,000 metres Championships – a competition between Spanish and Portuguese athletes that was held between 1991 and 1996 – and the first five editions of the European 10000 Metres Challenge were held in the Iberian Peninsula. The event was first held under its current title in 2005. From 2018, the event has been held as the climax of the Night of 10k PB's event at Parliament Hill, London. (Full article...)
| More selected articles |
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 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?
| Archive |
Selected biography
Iolanda Balaș (Romanian pronunciation: [joˈlanda ˈbalaʃ], Hungarian: Balázs Jolán, later Balázs-Sőtér Jolán; 12 December 1936 – 11 March 2016) was a Romanian athlete, an Olympic champion and former world record holder in the high jump. She was the first Romanian woman to win an Olympic gold medal and is considered to have been one of the greatest high jumpers of the twentieth century. (Full article...)
Balaș took up athletics owing to her caretaker Luisa Ernst, who was also a retired high jumper.[1] In 1953 she transferred from Timișoara club "Electrica" to CCA (CSA Steaua). After finishing fifth in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, she won Olympic gold medals at Rome in 1960 (becoming the first Romanian woman to do so)[2] and Tokyo in 1964. At the 1964 Olympics she competed with a torn tendon, which forced her later to withdraw from the 1966 European Championships. Nevertheless, between 1957 and 1966, Balaș won 154 consecutive competitions,[3] not including qualifying competitions or exhibitions. She improved the world record 14 times, from 1.75 m to 1.91 m, and equalled it once outdoors and once indoors. She was the first woman to jump over six feet. Her technique was a sophisticated version of the scissors technique.[1]
Her record of 1.91 m, set in 1961, lasted until the end of 1971 (beaten by Ilona Gusenbauer from Austria), when jumpers with a more efficient technique (the straddle technique, and later the Fosbury style) took over.[1]
| More selected biographies |
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... 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 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 at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... 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 the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
World records
Topics
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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 |  Europe
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| European Indoor Championships | 1966 | ||
| South American Championships | 1919 |  South America
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| Asian Championships | 1973 |  Asia
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| African Championships | 1979 |  Africa
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| Ocenian Championships | 1990 |  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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Sources
- ^ a b c "Iolanda Balaş". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ "Romanian high jumper Iolanda Balas dies at 79". Daily Herald. Associated Press. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ "The Sport's Longest Winning Streak Gets Longer", Track & Field News (August 2016), p. 47.
