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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Selected article
The United States national athletics (track and field) team represents the United States in international athletics competitions such as the Olympic Games or the World Athletics Championships. (Full article...) The United States is the nation that has won the most medals in athletics at the Olympic Games, around 795, of which 332 are gold.[1] Their national-level male, took part in all editions of the games already this season, 25 with the exception of Moscow 1980 known for the 1980 boycott, while women 18 editions from Amsterdam 1928.[2]
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Athlete birthdays
13 May:
- Hildrun Claus, German long jumper
- Peter Frenkel, German race walker
- Dawn Harper-Nelson, American hurdler
- Amine Laâlou, Moroccan middle-distance runner
- Dmitriy Shevchenko, Russian discus thrower
- Kokichi Tsuburaya, Japanese distance runner
14 May:
- Kenth Eldebrink, Swedish javelin thrower
- Fred Englehardt, American triple jumper
- Natasha Kaiser-Brown, American sprinter
- Godfrey Rampling, British sprinter
- Alina Talay, Belarusian hurdler
15 May:
- Don Bragg, American pole vaulter
- Daniel Caines, British sprinter
- Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican sprinter
- Valentina Gerasimova, Soviet middle-distance runner
- Li Yanfeng, Chinese discus thrower
- Fred Murray, American hurdler
- Justine Robbeson, South African javelin thrower
- Miruts Yifter, Ethiopian distance runner
16 May:
- Joan Benoit Samuelson, American distance runner
- Irina Korzhanenko, Russian shot putter
- Steve Lewis, American sprinter
- Albina Mayorova, Russian distance runner
- Helga Radtke, German long jumper
- Bob Tisdall, Irish hurdler and decathlete
17 May:
- Yelena Gorchakova, Russian javelin thrower
- Daniel Komen, Kenyan distance runner
- Mayte Martínez, Spanish middle-distance runner
- Christine Ohuruogu, British sprinter
- Gilles Quénéhervé, French sprinter
- William Yiampoy, Kenyan middle-distance runner
18 May:
- Eric Backman, Swedish distance runner
- Denis Horgan, Irish thrower
- Charles Kamathi, Kenyan distance runner
- Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter
- Renata Nielsen, Danish long jumper
- Volha Tsander, Belarusian hammer thrower
- Angela Voigt, German long jumper
19 May:
- Livio Berruti, Italian sprinter
- Herman Brix, American shot putter
- Jānis Lūsis, Soviet javelin thrower
- Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish pole vaulter
- Charlie Spedding, British distance runner
- Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, Soviet long jumper
- Percy Williams, Canadian sprinter
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Archive |
Selected biography
Alfred Oerter Jr. (/ˈɔːrtər/; September 19, 1936 – October 1, 2007) was an American athlete and a four-time Olympic Champion in the discus throw. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Games. Oerter is an inductee of the IAAF Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
Oerter began his Olympic career at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. He was not considered the favorite but he felt a rush during the competition and he unleashed a throw of 184 feet 22 inches (56.64 m)—which, at the time, was a career best. The throw was good enough to win the competition by more than 5 inches (130 mm).
In 1957, it seemed that Oerter's career would be over at the age of 20 when he was nearly killed in an automobile accident. He recovered in time to compete at the 1960 Summer Olympics at Rome, where he was the slight favorite over teammate Rink Babka, who was the world record holder.
Babka was in the lead for the first four of the six rounds. He gave Oerter advice before his fifth throw; Oerter threw his discus 194 feet 2 inches (59.18 m), setting an Olympic record. Babka settled for the silver medal when he was not able to beat Oerter's throw.
During the early 1960s, Oerter continued to have success and set his first world record in 1962. In the process, he was the first to break 200 feet in the discus. He was considered a heavy favorite to win a third gold medal at Tokyo in 1964.
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that for the first time this century, this year's British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television?
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- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... that the women's race at today's New York City Marathon will feature two of the medalists from this year's Olympic marathon?
- ... that Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... 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 at the 2022 British Athletics Championships, Daryll Neita became the first woman since 2010 to win both the 100- and 200-metre events?
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
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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Sources
- ^ "United States Athletics". sports-reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
- ^ "Team USA at the Olympic Games". usatf.org. Retrieved 11 April 2012.