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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The start of a typical cross country race, as an official fires a gun to signal the start (from Cross country running) -
The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (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) -
Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field) -
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The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running) -
A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (from Track and field) -
Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running) -
A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field) -
The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running) -
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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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A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running) -
Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field) -
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) -
Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field) -
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) -
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A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field) -
Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field) -
Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Racewalking) -
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) -
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) -
A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (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) -
Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field) -
Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (from Track and field) -
Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field) -
A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field)
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Selected article
The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the 100-meter (109.36 yd) dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1928 for women. The inaugural World Championships were in 1983.
The reigning 100 m Olympic or world champion is often named "the fastest man or woman in the world". Noah Lyles and Sha'Carri Richardson are the world champions; Marcell Jacobs and Elaine Thompson-Herah are the men's and women's Olympic champions.
On an outdoor 400-metre running track, the 100 m is held on the home straight, with the start usually being set on an extension to make it a straight-line race. There are three instructions given to the runners immediately before and at the beginning of the race: "on your marks", "set", and the firing of the starter's pistol. The runners move to the starting blocks when they hear the 'on your marks' instruction. The following instruction, to adopt the 'set' position, allows them to adopt a more efficient starting posture and isometrically preload their muscles: this will help them to start faster. A race-official then fires the starter's pistol to signal the race beginning and the sprinters stride forwards from the blocks. Sprinters typically reach top speed after somewhere between 50 and 60 m. Their speed then slows towards the finish line. (Full article...)
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Selected picture
Athlete birthdays
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
27 July:
- Eduard Gushchin, Soviet shot putter
- Samuel Matete, Zambian hurdler
- Paul Meier, German decathlete
- David Storl, German shot putter
- Ellen Streidt, German sprinter
- Armas Taipale, Finnish discus thrower
- Stanislav Tarasenko, Russian long jumper
Related portals
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- ... 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
Harold Maurice Abrahams CBE (15 December 1899 – 14 January 1978) was an English track and field athlete. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. (Full article...)
A sprinter and long jumper since his youth, he continued to compete in running while at Cambridge. Abrahams earned a place in the 1920 Olympic team,[1] but was eliminated in the quarter-finals of both the 100 m and the 200 m, and finished 20th in the long jump.[1] He was also part of the British relay team that took fourth place in the 4 × 100 m.[2]
Although Abrahams dominated British long jump and sprint events, after graduating from Cambridge, he employed Sam Mussabini, a professional coach, who improved his style and training techniques in preparation for the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France.[2][3]
For six months, Mussabini emphasised the 100 m at Abrahams's direction, with the 200 m as secondary. Through vigorous training, Abrahams perfected his start, stride and form. One month before the 1924 Games, Abrahams set the English record in the long jump 24 feet 2+1⁄2 inches (7.38 m), a record which stood for the next 32 years.[1] The same day he ran the 100-yard dash in 9.6 seconds, but the time was not submitted as a record because the track was on a slight downhill.[4]
At the 1924 Summer Games, Abrahams won the 100 m in a time of 10.6 seconds, beating all the American favourites, including the 1920 gold-medal winner Charley Paddock.[1] In third place was Arthur Porritt, later Governor-General of New Zealand and Queen's Surgeon. The Paris Olympics 100 m dash took place at 7 p.m. on 7 July 1924, and Abrahams and Porritt dined together at 7 p.m. on 7 July every year thereafter, until Abrahams's death in 1978. Teammate Eric Liddell, the British 100-yard dash record holder at that time, declined to compete in the Paris 100 m because one of the heats for the event was held on a Sunday. Both Liddell and Abrahams competed in the final of the 200 m race, with Liddell finishing third and Abrahams sixth.[1] Liddell went on to win the gold medal in the 400 metres. Abrahams was the opening runner for the British 4 × 100 m team, which won the silver medal. He did not compete in the long jump.[2]
| More selected biographies |
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump 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 the women's race at today's New York City Marathon will feature two of the medalists from this year's Olympic marathon?
- ... 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 Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?
- ... 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?
- ... 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 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 |
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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 | .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
- ^ a b c d e Kebric, Robert B. (2002) [1992]. Dawson, Dawn P. (ed.). Great Athletes. Vol. 1 (Revised ed.). Salem Press. pp. 11–13. ISBN 1-58765-008-8.
- ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Harold Abrahams". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
- ^ "Olympics 2000". Sporting Life. Archived from the original on 10 December 2000.
- ^ "Uc_Hilal : Jews in Sports @ Virtual Museum". Jewsinsports.org. 14 January 1978. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
