Portal:Sport of athletics
Introduction
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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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Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least 3 km (1.9 mi). Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength.
In modern human society, long-distance running has multiple purposes: people may engage in it for physical exercise, for recreation, as a means of travel, as a competitive sport, for economic reasons, or cultural reasons. Long-distance running can also be used as a means to improve cardiovascular health. (Full article...)
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Athlete birthdays
20 July:
- Larry Black, American sprinter
- Ignisious Gaisah, Ghanaian long jumper
- Paula Ivan, Romanian middle-distance runner
- LJ van Zyl, South African hurdler
21 July:
- Berhane Adere, Ethiopian distance runner
- Danny Ecker, German pole vaulter
- Llewellyn Herbert, South African hurdler
- Antonina Krivoshapka, Russian sprinter
- Tatyana Lebedeva, Russian long- and triple jumper
- Catherine Ndereba, Kenyan distance runner
- Julius Saaristo, Finnish javelin thrower
- Jüri Tarmak, Soviet high jumper
22 July:
- Anna Chicherova, Russian high jumper
- Yevgeniya Kolodko, Russian shot putter
- António Leitão, Portuguese distance runner
- Mihaela Peneș, Romanian javelin thrower
- Miloslava Rezková, Czechoslovakian high jumper
- Lasse Virén, Finnish distance runner
23 July:
- Stéphane Diagana, French hurdler
- Maurice Greene, American sprinter
- Natasha Hastings, American sprinter
- Dmitriy Karpov, Kazakh decathlete
- Bo Roberson, American long jumper
- Dave Roberts, American pole vaulter
- Yelena Sokolova, Russian long jumper
- Cy Young, American javelin thrower
24 July:
- Lyudmila Bragina, Soviet middle-distance runner
- Wilfred Bungei, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Mikhail Khmelnitskiy, Belarusian race walker
- Yago Lamela, Spanish long jumper
- Aries Merritt, American hurdler
- Malte Mohr, German pole vaulter
- David Payne, American hurdler
- George Saling, American hurdler
- Ivan Tikhon, Belarusian hammer thrower
- George Young, American distance runner
25 July:
- George Brown, American long jumper
- Javier Culson, Puerto Rican hurdler
- Artur Partyka, Polish high jumper
- John Pennel, American pole vaulter
- Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker
- Dave Sime, American sprinter
26 July:
- Iolanda Chen, Russian triple jumper
- Galina Chistyakova, Soviet long jumper
- Valentin Gavrilov, Soviet high jumper
- Gary Honey, Australian long jumper
- Kyriakos Ioannou, Cypriot high jumper
- Pat McDonald, American shot putter and weight thrower
- Miesha McKelvy-Jones, American hurdler
- Ramona Neubert, German heptathlete
- Denis Nizhegorodov, Russian race walker
- Pyotr Pochinchuk, Soviet race walker
- Ingo Schultz, German sprinter
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- ... 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?
- ... that A. K. M. Miraj Uddin set a Pakistani national record in the pole vault by clearing 12 feet 2 inches (3.71 m) with a bamboo pole instead of a carbon-fiber pole?
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Selected biography
Walter Dix (born January 31, 1986) is a retired American sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the sixth-fastest 200-meter runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters, with a best of 9.88 (9.80w) seconds. He was the only track athlete from USA to win 2 individual Olympic medals in Beijing.
Dix was a highly successful amateur athlete, setting a state record in the 100 m and trying out for the US Olympic Team at the age of eighteen. He joined Florida State University and in his first year he broke the 100 m American junior record and won at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. After a fourth-place finish at the 2005 US Championships, Dix continued with his collegiate success, setting an NCAA record of 19.69 seconds in the 200 m and coming within one hundredth of the 100 m record. He completed a 100 m, 200 m, and 4×100 meter relay sweep at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the first to do so since John Carlos in 1969. He closed his amateur career in 2008: another NCAA 200 m title made him the third most decorated track athlete in NCAA history, and he won gold and silver at the 2008 US Olympic Trials.
Dix turned professional in mid-2008, signing a multimillion-dollar contract with Nike. He reached the Olympic finals in the 100 and 200 m, and won two bronze medals; the only American track athlete to win two individual medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He suffered an injury at the 2009 US Championships, thus missing out on the World Championships, and a contract dispute with his agent resulted in only a handful of appearances that season. In 2011 he was both the 100 and 200 m American champion and won silver medals in the events at the 2011 World Championships. An injury at the 2012 Olympic trials meant he missed a second Olympic appearance. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
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- ... 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 hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 52.49 seconds?
- ... 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 at the 2022 British Athletics Championships, Daryll Neita became the first woman since 2010 to win both the 100- and 200-metre events?
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... that when the Oakland Athletics promoted Bill McNulty to the major leagues, they needed forest rangers to find him?
- ... 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?
World records
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 | ![]() |
World Championships | 1983 | World championships | |
World Indoor Championships | 1985 | ||
European Championships | 1934 | Continental championships | ![]() |
European Indoor Championships | 1966 | ||
South American Championships | 1919 | ![]() | |
Asian Championships | 1973 | ![]() | |
African Championships | 1979 | ![]() | |
Ocenian Championships | 1990 | ![]() |
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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