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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Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (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) -
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A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (from Track and field) -
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The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field) -
Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running) -
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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) -
Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle distance world records in the 1940s. (from Track and field) -
Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field) -
The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field) -
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Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
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) -
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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) -
The Gordon Indoor Track sports an 80-yard sprint straight, and the track is 220 yards in length. (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 child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (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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A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field) -
Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field) -
A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field) -
An Ancient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (from Track and field) -
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The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Racewalking) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field) -
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field)
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Selected article
A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action.
In athletics, the two standard relays are the 4 × 100 metres relay and the 4 × 400 metres relay. 4 × 200, 4 × 800, and 4 × 1500 m relays exist as well, but they are rarer. Mixed-gendered 4 × 400 metres relays were introduced at the 2017 IAAF World Relays, repeated at the 2018 Asian Games, the 2019 World Championships in Athletics and were added to the 2020 Summer Olympics. In addition, a 2 × 2 × 400 m and shuttle hurdles mixed relay races were introduced at the 2019 IAAF World Relays.
Traditionally, the 4 × 400 m relay finals are the last event of a track meet,[citation needed] and is often met with a very enthusiastic crowd, especially if the last leg is a close race.[A] It is hard to measure exact splits in a 4 × 400 (or a 4 × 100) relay. For example, if a team ran a 3-minute 4 × 400, it does not mean every runner on the team has to run a 45-second open 400, because a person starts accelerating before they have the baton, therefore allowing for slightly slower overall open 400 times. A 4 × 400 relay generally starts in lanes for the first leg, including the handoff. The second leg then proceeds to run in lanes for the first 100 metres, after which point the runners are allowed to break into the first lane on the backstretch, as long as they do not interfere with other runners. A race organizer then puts the third-leg runners into a line depending on the order in which they are running (with the first place closest to the inside). The faster teams pass first, while the slower teams have to slide in to the inside lanes as they come available.
According to the IAAF rules, world records in relays can only be set if all team members have the same nationality. Several superior marks were established by teams from a mixture of countries and were thus never ratified.
Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
21 April:
- Romeo Bertini, Italian distance runner
- Richard Chelimo, Kenyan distance runner
- Ludmila Engquist, Russian-Swedish hurdler
- Dieter Fromm, German middle-distance runner
- John Kibowen, Kenyan distance runner
- Julius Korir, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- Olga Kuragina, Soviet pentathlete
- Yuliya Pechonkina, Russian hurdler
- Michael Tinsley, American hurdler
- Marc Wright, American pole vaulter
22 April:
- Paul Malakwen Kosgei, Kenyan distance runner
23 April:
- Gezahegne Abera, Ethiopian distance runner
- Folke Jansson, Swedish triple jumper
- Alysia Montaño, American middle-distance runner
24 April:
- Josy Barthel, Luxembourgish middle-distance runner
- Al Bates, American long jumper
- Eddie Hart, American sprinter
- Tatyana Lesovaya, Soviet discus thrower
- Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete
- David Oliver, American hurdler
- Ruth Osburn, American discus thrower
- Mike Rodgers, American sprinter
- Con Walsh, Irish-Canadian hammer thrower
25 April:
- Bob Gutowski, American pole vaulter
- Duncan Kibet, Kenyan distance runner
- Valentyna Kozyr, Soviet high jumper
- Vitaliy Kyrylenko, Ukrainian long jumper
- Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower
- Omar McLeod, Jamaican hurdler
- Isaac Kiprono Songok, Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner
- Ernest Webb, British race walker
- Yvette Williams, New Zealand long jumper
- Nick Willis, New Zealand middle-distance runner
26 April:
- Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch all-rounder
- Stephanie Graf, Austrian middle-distance runner
- Roger Moens, Belgian middle-distance runner
- Cornelia Ullrich, German hurdler
- Novlene Williams-Mills, Jamaican sprinter
- Yuliya Zaripova, Russian steeplechase runner
27 April:
- Gudrun Berend, German hurdler
- Chris Berger, Dutch sprinter
- Johnny Kuck, American shot putter
- Con Leahy, Irish jumper
- Luz Long, German long jumper
- Meselech Melkamu, Ethiopian distance runner
- Ron Morris, American pole vaulter
- Nina Ponomaryova, Soviet discus thrower
- John Rimmer, British steeplechase runner
- Seppo Räty, Finnish javelin thrower
Related portals
More did you know
- ... that the 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist in the heptathlon was Denise Lewis?
- ... that as part of a publicity stunt, the 1927 Texas Relays held an 89 mile (143 km) running race from San Antonio to Austin?
- ... that Czech decathlete Roman Šebrle, world record holder and 2004 Olympic winner, was injured in January 2007 when a javelin which had been thrown 55 metres pierced his shoulder?
- ... that at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, Yipsi Moreno became world champion in the hammer throw at the age of twenty, improving from an eighteenth place finish in 1999?
| Archive |
Selected biography
The Borlée family is a sporting family consisting of many athletes, one of whom, the progenitor Jacques, became a coach in the world of athletics. (Full article...)
The progenitor of the Borlee family is Jacques (born 1957), bronze medalist at the 1983 European Indoor Championships in Budapest on 200 m, while his first wife Edith Demaertelaere (born 1964) was a good sprinter with a personal best of 23.89. Six of his seven children are athletes (the first five born from the first marriage with Edith, the last two born from a second marriage).[1]
The eldest daughter Olivia (born 1986) won the silver medal at the Olympics, which was upgraded to gold in 2016 due to the Russian team's disqualification due to doping, and the world bronze at the 2007 Osaka World Championships with the 4 × 100 m relay and the other daughter Alizia (born 1991) was also a decent sprinter. The four sons are all 400 m specialists, the twins Jonathan and Kevin (born 1988), both Olympic finalists in London 2012, Dylan (born 1992) and the youngest Rayane. In addition, Jacques' older brother Jean-Pierre (born 1947) was also a sprinter.[2]
In 2015 the Belgian men's 4 × 400 metres relay team won the Belgian National Sports Merit Award (Trophée national du Mérite sportif) award assigned to the components Dylan Borlée, Jonathan Borlée, Kevin Borlée, Antoine Gillet et Julien Watrin.[3]
In an interview of 21 August 2013 released to the major Italian sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Jacques Borlée stated that he was inspired by his training methods to Sandro Calvesi, in turn the progenitor of one of the greatest families of Italian athletics, the Ottoz family. Calvesi was in fact the husband of the Berlin Olympian 1936 Gabre Gabric, father-in-law of the Olympic bronze medalist in the 110 m hs in Mexico City 1968, Eddy Ottoz and father of Lyana Calvesi, current president of the Atletica Calvesi club and coach of the sprinter Eleonora Marchiando.[4]
| More selected biographies |
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... 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 the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... that for the first time this century, this year's British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television?
- ... 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 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?
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... that Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?
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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| Field |
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| Area records |
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| Americas |
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| Community |
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International youth athletics | |||||||||
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| Regional championships |
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Athletics by country | ||
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Annual awards in athletics and track and field | ||
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| National |
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| Core program | |
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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
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| 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)
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Sources
- ^ Each segment of the relay (the distance run by one person) is referred to as a leg.
- ^ "Mais qui est Rayane, le quatrième frère Borlée ?" (in French). rtbf.be. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
Rayane, leur petit frère de 19 ans. Il n'a pas la même mère que les trois ainés.
- ^ "FRATELLI BORLEE L'ATLETICA IN FAMIGLIA" (in Italian). runtoday.it. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ^ "LE 4X400M MASCULIN REÇOIT LE TROPHÉE NATIONAL DU MÉRITE SPORTIF" (in French). lbfa.be. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ^ "C'è un pò di Italia nel miracolo Borlée "Noi figli di Calvesi"" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
