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Sport of athletics

Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and
walking.[1] The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running,
cross country running, and racewalking.
 Athletics

Highest governing body World Athletics

Characteristics

Mixed-sex Yes

Type Outdoor or indoor

Presence

Olympic Present since inaugural 1896 Olympics

Paralympic Present since inaugural 1960 Paralympics

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.

The athletics meeting forms the backbone of the Summer Olympics. The foremost international
athletics meeting is the World Athletics Championships, which incorporates track and field,
marathon running and race walking. Other top level competitions in athletics include the World
Athletics Cross Country Championships and the World Half Marathon Championships. Athletes
with a physical disability compete at the Summer Paralympics and the World Para Athletics
Championships.

The word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētēs, "combatant in public
games") from ἆθλον (athlon, "prize") or ἆθλος (athlos, "competition").[2] Initially, the term
described athletic contests in general – i.e. sporting competition based primarily on human
physical feats. In the 19th century, the term athletics acquired a more narrow definition in Europe
and came to describe sports involving competitive running, walking, jumping and throwing. This
definition continues to be prominent in the United Kingdom and the former British Empire.
Related words in Germanic and Romance languages also have a similar meaning.

In much of North America, athletics is synonymous with sports in general, maintaining the
historical usage of the term. The word "athletics" is rarely used to refer to the sport of athletics in
this region. Track and field is preferred, and is used in the United States and Canada to refer to
athletics events, including racewalking and marathon running (although cross country running is
typically considered a separate sport).

History

Ancient
…

A copy of the Ancient Greek statue Discobolus, portraying a discus thrower

Athletic contests in running, walking, jumping and throwing are among the oldest of all sports
and their roots are prehistoric.[3] Athletics events were depicted in the Ancient Egyptian tombs in
Saqqara, with illustrations of running at the Heb Sed festival and high jumping appearing in
tombs from as early as of 2250 BC.[4] The Tailteann Games were an ancient Celtic festival in
Ireland, founded circa 1800 BC, and the thirty-day meeting included running and stone-throwing
among its sporting events.[5] The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BC was a
stadium-length running event known as the stadion. This later expanded to include throwing and
jumping events within the ancient pentathlon. Athletics competitions also took place at other
Panhellenic Games, which were founded later around 500 BC.[6]

Modern era
…
The Cotswold Olympic Games, a sports festival which emerged in 17th century England,
featured athletics in the form of sledgehammer throwing contests.[7] Annually, from 1796 to
1798, L'Olympiade de la République was held in revolutionary France, and is an early forerunner
to the modern Olympic Games. The premier event of this competition was a running event, but
various ancient Greek disciplines were also on display. The 1796 Olympiade marked the
introduction of the metric system into the sport.[8]

Athletics competitions were held about 1812 at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,[9] and in
1840 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire at the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. The Royal Military
Academy at Woolwich held an organised competition in 1849, and a regular series of closed
meetings open only to undergraduates, was held by Exeter College, Oxford from 1850.[10] The
annual Wenlock Olympian Games, first held in 1850 in Wenlock, England, incorporated athletics
events into its sports programme.[11]

The first modern-style indoor athletics meetings were recorded shortly after in the 1860s,
including a meet at Ashburnham Hall in London which featured four running events and a triple
jump competition.[12][13]

The Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) was established in England in 1880 as the first national
body for the sport of athletics and began holding its own annual athletics competition – the AAA
Championships. The United States also began holding an annual national competition – the USA
Outdoor Track and Field Championships – first held in 1876 by the New York Athletic Club.[14]
Athletics became codified and standardized via the English AAA and other general sports
organisations in the late 19th century, such as the Amateur Athletic Union (founded in the US in
1888) and the Union des sociétés françaises de sports athlétiques (founded in France in 1889).
An athletics competition was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and it has
been as one of the foremost competitions at the quadrennial multi-sport event ever since.
Originally for men only, the 1928 Olympics saw the introduction of women's events in the
athletics programme. Athletics is part of the Paralympic Games since the inaugural Games in
1960. Athletics has a very high-profile during major championships, especially the Olympics, but
otherwise is less popular.

An international governing body, the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), was
founded in 1912. It enforced amateur sport status on competitions during much of the 20th
century. Professional competition continued at a low level, becoming increasingly more
common as the century progressed. The International Track Association briefly formed a
professional track and field circuit in the United States in the 1970s. Athletes used their
increasing status to push for remuneration and the IAAF responded with the IAAF Golden Events
series and the establishment an outdoor World Championships in 1983, including track and field,
racewalking and a marathon event. In modern times, athletes can receive money for racing,
putting an end to the so-called "amateurism" that existed before. The global body updated the
name to the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2001, moving away from its
amateur origins,[15] before taking on its current name World Athletics in 2019.[16]

The Comité International Sports des Sourds had been formed by 1922, to govern international
deaf sports, including athletics.[17]

The first organized international competitions for athletes with a physical disability (not deaf)
began in 1952, when the first international Stoke Mandeville Games were organized for World
War II veterans.[17][18] This only included athletes in a wheelchair. This inspired the first
Paralympic Games, held in 1960. Competitions would over time be expanded to include mainly
athletes with amputation, cerebral palsy and visual impairment, in addition to wheelchair events.

Events

World Athletics, the sport's governing body, defines athletics in six disciplines: track and field,
road running, race walking, cross country running, mountain running, and trail running.[19]
Mountain running was added in 2003 and trail running was added in 2015.[20][21][22][23]

All forms of athletics are individual sports with the exception of relay races. However, athletes'
performances are often tallied together by country at international championships, and, in the
case of cross country and road races, finishing positions or times of the top athletes from a
team may be combined to declare a team victor.
Several further forms of competitive running exist outside of the governance of World Athletics.
The International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) governs high-altitude mountain running, defined as
skyrunning, and is affiliated with the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation
rather than World Athletics.[24] Competitive stair climbing events, usually hosted in skyscrapers,
has two common names: vertical running (as described by the ISF) and tower running (as
described by the Towerrunning World Association).[25][26] Snowshoe running is a winter sport
governed by the World Snowshoe Federation, which is similarly to cross country running but has
athletes wearing snowshoes to race over deep snow on an obstacle-free course.[27] The
International Association of Ultrarunners organises ultra running as an affiliate of World
Athletics, but these long-distance forms of competition fit within World Athletics disciplines,
albeit with additional distance.[28]

Track and field

…

A typical track and field stadium with an oval running track and a grassy inner field

International level women athletes at ISTAF Berlin, 2006

Track and field competitions emerged in the late 19th century and were typically contested
between athletes who were representing rival educational institutions, military organisations and
sports clubs.[29] Participating athletes may compete in one or more events, according to their
specialities. Men and women compete separately. Track and field comes in both indoor and
outdoor formats, with most indoor competitions occurring in winter, while outdoor events are
mostly held in summer. The sport is defined by the venue in which the competitions are held –
the track and field stadium.

A variety of running events are held on the track which fall into three broad distance categories:
sprints, middle-distance, and long-distance track events. Relay races feature teams comprising
four runners each, who must pass a baton to their teammate after a specified distance with the
aim of being the first team to finish. Hurdling events and the steeplechase are a variation upon
the flat running theme in that athletes must clear obstacles on the track during the race. The
field events come in two types – jumping and throwing competitions. In throwing events,
athletes are measured by how far they hurl an implement, with the common events being the
shot put, discus, javelin, and hammer throw. There are four common jumping events: the long
jump and triple jump are contests measuring the horizontal distance an athlete can jump, while
the high jump and pole vault are decided on the height achieved. Combined events, which
include the decathlon (typically competed by men) and heptathlon (typically competed by
women), are competitions where athletes compete in a number of different track and field
events, with each performance going toward a final points tally.

The most prestigious track and field contests occur within athletics championships and
athletics programmes at multi-sport events. The Olympic athletics competition and World
Championships in Athletics, and the Paralympic athletics competition and World Para Athletics
Championships, are the highest and most prestigious levels of competition in track and field.
Track and field events have become the most prominent part of major athletics championships
and many famous athletes within the sport of athletics come from this discipline. Discrete track
and field competitions are found at national championships-level and also at annual, invitational
track and field meets. Meetings range from elite competitions – such as those in the IAAF
Diamond League series – to basic all comers track meets, inter-sports club meetings and
schools events, which form the grassroots of track and field.
Official world championship track and field events
Track Field

Middle- Long- Combined events

Sprints Hurdles Relays Jumps Throws
distance distance

Long
Shot put
60 m hurdles jump
Discus
60 m 100 m hurdles 4×100 m Triple
800 m throw Pentathlon
100 m 5000 m 110 m hurdles relay jump
1500 m Hammer Heptathlon
200 m 10,000 m 400 m hurdles 4×400 m High
3000 m throw Decathlon
400 m 3000 m relay jump
Javelin
steeplechase Pole
throw
vault

Note: Events in italics are competed at indoor world championships only

Note: Heptathlon can refer to two different events, each consisting of different disciplines and
both recognised by IAAF: the indoor heptathlon for men, and the outdoor heptathlon for
women.

Road running
…
Road running competitions are running events (predominantly long distance) which are mainly
conducted on courses of paved or tarmac roads, although major events often finish on the track
of a main stadium. In addition to being a common recreational sport, the elite level of the sport –
particularly marathon races – are one of the most popular aspects of athletics. Road racing
events can be of virtually any distance, but the most common and well known are the marathon,
half marathon, 10 km and 5 km. The marathon is the only road running event featured at the
IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the Summer Olympics, although there is also an
annual IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. The marathon is also the only road running
event featured at the World Para Athletics Championships and the Summer Paralympics. The
World Marathon Majors series includes the six most prestigious marathon competitions at the
elite level – the Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York City and Tokyo Marathons.
Runners in the popular National Marathon race in Washington, D.C.

The sport of road running finds its roots in the activities of footmen: male servants who ran
alongside the carriages of aristocrats around the 18th century, and who also ran errands over
distances for their masters. Foot racing competitions evolved from wagers between aristocrats,
who pitted their footman against that of another aristocrat in order to determine a winner. The
sport became professionalised as footmen were hired specifically on their athletic ability and
began to devote their lives to training for the gambling events. The amateur sports movement in
the late 19th century marginalised competitions based on the professional, gambling model.
The 1896 Summer Olympics saw the birth of the modern marathon and the event led to the
growth of road running competitions through annual events such as the Boston Marathon (first
held in 1897) and the Lake Biwa Marathon and Fukuoka Marathons, which were established in
the 1940s. The 1970s running boom in the United States made road running a common pastime
and also increased its popularity at the elite level.[30]

Ekiden contests – which originated in Japan and remain very popular there – are a relay race
variation on the marathon, being in contrast to the typically individual sport of road running.

Cross country running

…
Competitors mid-race at a boys high school event in the United States

Cross country running is the most naturalistic of the sports in athletics as competitions take
place on open-air courses over surfaces such as grass, woodland trails, and earth. It is both an
individual and team sport, as runners are judged on an individual basis and a points scoring
method is used for teams. Competitions are typically long distance races of 3 km (1.9 mi) or
more which are usually held in autumn and winter. Cross country's most successful athletes
often compete in long-distance track and road events as well.

The Crick Run in England in 1838 was the first recorded instance of an organised cross country
competition. The sport gained popularity in British, then American schools in the 19th century
and culminated in the creation of the first International Cross Country Championships in
1903.[31] The annual IAAF World Cross Country Championships was inaugurated in 1973 and
this remains the highest level of competition for the sport. A number of continental cross
country competitions are held, with championships taking place in Asia, Europe, North America
and South America. The sport has retained its status at the scholastic level, particularly in the
United Kingdom and United States. At the professional level, the foremost competitions come
under the banner of the IAAF Cross Country Permit Meetings.

While cross country competitions are no longer held at the Olympics, having featured in the
athletics programme from 1912 to 1924, it has been present as one of the events within the
modern pentathlon competition since the 1912 Summer Olympics. One variation on traditional
cross country is mountain running, which incorporates significant uphill and/or downhill
sections as an additional challenge to the course. Fell running and Orienteering are other
competitive sports similar to cross country, although they feature an element of navigation
which is absent from the set courses of cross country.

Racewalking …
A track-side judge monitoring technique at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.

Racewalking is a form of competitive walking that usually takes place on open-air roads,
although running tracks are also occasionally used. Racewalking is the only sport in athletics in
which judges monitor athletes on their technique. Racewalkers must always have a foot in
contact with the ground and their advancing leg must be straightened, not bent at the knee –
failure to follow these rules results in disqualification from the race.[32]

Racewalking finds its roots in the sport of pedestrianism which emerged in the late 18th century
in England. Spectators would gamble on the outcome of the walking competitions. The sport
took on an endurance aspect and competitions were held over long distances or walkers would
have to achieve a certain distance within a specified time frame, such as Centurion contests of
walking 100 miles (160 km) within 24 hours.[32] During this period, racewalking was frequently
held on athletics tracks for ease of measurement, and the 1908 Summer Olympics in London
saw the introduction of the 3500-metre and 10-mile walks. Racewalking was briefly dropped
from the Olympic programme in 1928, but the men's 50 kilometres race walk has been held at
every Olympic Games but one since 1932. The men's 20 kilometres race walk was added to the
Olympic athletics schedule in 1956 and the women's event was first held in 1992. The most
common events in modern competition are over 10 km, 20 km and 50 km on roads, although
women's 3 km and men's 5 km are held on indoor tracks.

The highest level racewalking competitions occur at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics
and at the Summer Olympics, although the sport also has its own separate major competition –
the IAAF World Race Walking Cup – which has been held since 1961. The IAAF World Race
Walking Challenge forms the primary seasonal competition – athletes earn points for their
performances at ten selected racewalking competitions and the highest scoring walkers are
entered into that year's IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final.
 Categories

Foekje Dillema was banned from the women's division in 1950

The significant variation in people's abilities in the sport of athletics has led to the creation of
numerous competitive categories, in order that athletes are pitted against rivals of a similar kind
or ability, and to include groups of people who would otherwise not be competitive in open-to-all
events. The eligibility of athletes for a given category is occasionally a source of controversy
among the sport's participants, officials and spectators, with disputes typically being rooted in
deliberate cheating in order to gain a competitive advantage or differing cultural perspectives
over the eligibility of a category.

Beyond the primary categories based on physical attributes, some competitions have further
eligibility criteria based on nationality, community membership or occupation.

Men's and women's divisions

…
The foremost division of this kind is by sex[ling]: in athletics, men and women almost exclusively
compete against people of the same sex. In contrast to the men's division, the development of
the women's division has caused regular dispute in terms of eligibility. Several intersex athletes
had success in the women's division in the early 20th century, such as Stanisława Walasiewicz
and Mary Weston (later Mark), and the IAAF responded by introducing sex verification for all
athletes in the women's category, beginning with the disqualification of sprinter Foekje Dillema in
1950 after she refused to be tested.[33] Olympic champion Ewa Kłobukowska became the first
athlete to publicly fail the test in 1967 and the humiliation she suffered as a result of the
announcement led to sex tests becoming a confidential process.[34] Hurdler Maria José
Martínez-Patiño failed a test and was disqualified in 1985, but publicly fought the ban in court
and was reinstated in 1988. In 1991, the IAAF replaced the sex chromatin test with general
medical tests for athletes of all divisions, due to changes in ethical and scientific viewpoints.[35]

The question of eligibility for the women's division continued to be a contentious and public
issue into the 21st century, with Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand bearing periods of inegibility
and taking the IAAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over their bans under the
hyperandrogenism rules.[36] An increasing number of trans men and trans women began to
compete in the women's division in the 2010s, which caused other athletes in the division to
raise questions of fairness in competition.[37][38]

The dispute reached new heights in 2019 with the United Nations Human Rights Council issuing
a statement that the IAAF was breaching "international human rights norms and standards"
through its practice of allowing some athletes to compete in the women's division only once they
had lowered their testosterone levels through medical intervention.[39] The IAAF and several
prominent women athletes, such as Paula Radcliffe, said this was required in order to prevent a
situation where countries deliberately sought out athletes who were intersex, transgender or had
a difference in sex development (DSD) in order to succeed in women's sport.[40] Others have
argued for the abolition of gender verification testing, with academic Maren Behrensen citing the
harm to tested athletes' social and emotional well-being, the inaccuracy of the medical tests, the
difficulty of determining the exact performance advantage provided by a given condition, and the
moral risk of "gender-engineering" by setting a biological definition for a female athlete.[41]

Age
…
Masters marathon runner Fauja Singh.

Age is a significant determiner of ability to compete in athletics, with athletic ability generally
increasing through childhood and adolescence, peaking in early adulthood, then gradually
declining from around the age of 30 onwards.[42][43] As a result, numerous age categories have
been created to encourage younger and older athletes to engage in competition. At international
level, there are three major categories for young athletes: under-23, under-20 (formerly junior),
and under-18 (formerly youth). Beyond international rules, different youth categories are in use in
the sport, often in the form of two-year or single age groupings.[44] Age categories are more
extensive for older athletes and these are commonly organised under the umbrella of masters
athletics, which has age groups spanning five years for all athletes aged 35 and above. There is
no limit to the number of age groupings, hence Stanisław Kowalski holds a world record for men
aged 105 years and over.[45] For competitions where age is not taken into account, this is known
as senior or open class athletics; in international rules there remain some restrictions on
younger people competing in endurance events for health reasons .[44]

Athletes' eligibility for a competitive age grouping is typically assessed through official
documentation, such as birth records or passports. Instances of age cheating have occurred at
all of the IAAF's global age category championships. One prominent incident was Olympic
medalist Thomas Longosiwa, who provided a falsified passport to compete at the 2006 World
Junior Championships in Athletics at age 24.[46] Age falsification for youth categories is mostly
limited to less developed parts of the world, such as Africa and South Asia, which have less
stringent controls on official documentation and many mature athletes engaging in high school
competition due to disruptions to education.[47][48][49][50] The same regions of the world also
present issues with age verification in masters age categories, with examples such as Indian
distance runners Dharampal Singh Gudha and Fauja Singh (both claiming to be over 100 years
old) reaching mainstream attention.[51]
Athletes with disabilities
…

Competitor in a wheelchair race at the 2008 Summer Paralympics.

Athletes with physical disabilities have competed at separate international events since 1952.
The International Paralympic Committee governs the competitions in athletics, and hosts the
Paralympic Games, which have continued since 1960.[17][18]

Competitors at elite level competitions, are classified by disability, to arrange athletes with a
similar disability in the same event. A classified T12 athlete for example, is a track athlete with a
visual impairment.[52]

F = Field athletes

T = Track athletes

11–13 – visual impairment. Compete with a sighted guide.

20 – Intellectual disability

31–38 – cerebral palsy

40–46 – amputation, and others (including athletes with dwarfism)

51–58 – Wheelchair

Operating independently of the Paralympic movement, deaf athletes have a long-established

tradition of organised athletics, with the first major world competition being included at the 1924
Deaflympics.[53] The primary impediments to the inclusion of deaf athletes in mainstream
athletics are sound based elements of the sport, such as the starter's pistol. This can be a
disadvantage even in Paralympic sport, as shown in by the example of Olivia Breen who failed to
hear a false start in a cerebral palsy class race at the 2012 Paralympics.[54]

In wheelchair racing athletes compete in lightweight racing chairs. Most major marathons have
wheelchair divisions and the elite racers consistently beat the runners on foot. The speed of
wheel chair racers has caused difficulties for race organisers in properly staggering their start
times compared to runners. A collision between Josh Cassidy (a wheelchair racer) and Tiki
Gelana (a leading female marathoner) at the 2013 London Marathon brought the issue into the
spotlight again.[55]

Occasionally, athletes with a disability reach a level at which they can compete against able-
bodied athletes. Legally blind Marla Runyan ran in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and won a gold
medal in the 1500 metres at the 1999 Pan American Games. Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee,
was a semi-finalist at the 2011 World Championships and won a silver medal as part of South
Africa's 4 × 400 metres relay team.[56] In masters athletics it is far more common to make an
accommodation for athletes with a disability. Blind Ivy Granstrom set numerous Masters world
records while being guided around the track.[57]

The disability categories have caused dispute among athletes, with some athletes being
accused of exaggerating their level of disability in order to compete in less challenging
categories.[58] Athletes with intellectual disabilities were banned from competition in all
Paralymic sports in response to verification issues and cheating at the 2000 Summer
Paralympics and the intellectual disability athletics programme was only restored twelve years
later at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[59]

Venues

Professional athletics almost exclusively takes place in one of three types of venue: stadiums,
set courses on grass or woodland, and road-based courses. Such venues ensure that events
take place in a relatively standardised manner, as well as improving the safety of athletes and
enjoyment for spectators. At a more basic level, many forms of athletics demand very little in
terms of venue requirements; almost any open space or area of field can provide a suitable
venue for basic running, jumping and throwing competitions.

Track and field stadium

…
A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium

A standard outdoor track is in the shape of a stadium,[60] 400 metres in length, and has at least
eight lanes 1.22 m in width (small arenas might have six lanes). Older track facilities may have
nonstandard track lengths, such as 440 yards (402.3 m; 1/4 mile) (common in the United
States). Historically, tracks were covered by a dirt running surface. Modern All-weather running
tracks are covered by a synthetic weather-resistant running surface, which typically consists of
rubber (either black SBR or colored EPDM granules), bound by polyurethane or latex resins. Older
tracks may be cinder-covered.

A standard indoor track is designed similarly to an outdoor track, but is only 200 metres in length
and has between four and eight lanes, each with width between 0.90 m and 1.10 m.[61] Often, the
bends of an indoor track will be banked to compensate for the small turning radius. However,
because of space limitations, indoor tracks may have other nonstandard lengths, such as 160-
yard (146.3 m) indoor track at Madison Square Garden used for the Millrose Games. Because of
space limitations, meetings held at indoor facilities do not hold many of athletics events
typically contested outdoors.

Cross country courses …

A cross country race taking place at a snowy park in the United States.

There is no standardised form of cross country course and each venue is significantly defined by
the environment it contains – some may be relatively flat and featureless, while others may be
more challenging with natural obstacles, tight turns, and undulating ground. While a small
number of purpose-built courses exist, the vast majority of cross country running courses are
created by cordoning a specific area within any open natural land, typically a park, woodland or
greenspace near a settlement.[62]

At the elite and professional level, courses must be looped and each lap must be between
1750 m and 2000 m in length. Severe obstacles such as deep ditches, high barriers and thick
undergrowth not normally present; the course should be able to be completed whilst remaining
on foot throughout. In order to maintain the sport's distinction from road running, the usage of
unnatural or macadamised surfaces is generally kept to a minimum or avoided entirely.[62]

Because the majority of races take place on areas of grass, soil, mud or earth, weather
conditions can significantly affect the difficulty of cross country courses, as snow and rain
reduces traction and can create areas of standing water.

Road courses
…

A typical road running course on the inner-city roads of Toronto

The surface of road races is highly important and the IAAF dictate that the courses must be
along man-made roads, bicycle paths or footpaths. Courses set along major roads of cities are
typical of road running events, and traffic is usually cordoned off from the area during the
competition. While soft ground, such as grass, is generally avoided, races may start and finish on
soft ground or within a track and field stadium. Road racing courses come in two primary types:
looped and point-to-point. Courses may be measured and designed to cover a standardised
distance, such as 10 km (6.2 mi), or they may simply follow a set route between two
landmarks.[63]

Road running courses over 5 km usually offer drinks or refreshment stations for runners at
designated points alongside the course and medical professionals are present at the courses of
major races due to the health risks involved with long-distance running.[63]

Elite road walks are conducted on closed loop courses (usually loops of 2,000 or 2,500 meters).
Refreshment stations are also present over long distance walking competitions, with drinks
being available on every lap for races longer than 10 km.[64]

Organizations

In 1912, the formation of the international governing body for athletics, the International
Amateur Athletics Federation, began. In recognition of the movement of the sport from
amateurism towards professionalism that began in the late 1970s, the word amateur was
dropped from the name, and the organization was rebranded as the International Association of
Athletics Federations in 2001. In late 2019, another rebranding began, with World Athletics as
the new title of the governing body.

World Athletics has 215 member nations and territories, which are divided into six continental
areas (or area associations).[65] The six association areas are for Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania,
North America and South America. The sports within athletics do not have their own
independent governing bodies at either international or continental level; instead, all fall under
the athletics authorities.[66]

Map of the six continental federations of World Athletics

      AAA – Asian Athletics Association

     CAA – Confederation of African Athletics

     CONSUDATLE – South American Athletics Confederation

     NACACAA – North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association

     EAA – European Athletics Association

     OAA – Oceania Athletics Association

National level athletics organisations are responsible for the regulation of the sport within their
respective countries and most major competitions have some form of permit or approval from
their national body.

Competitions

Men's 1,500-metre Running during the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships at the Ratina Stadium in Tampere, Finland

Athletics competitions can be broadly divided into three types: international championships,
national championships, and annual meetings and races. Athletics at international
championships, or Games, represent the pinnacle of competition within the sport, and they are
contested between athletes representing their country or region. The organisation of these
competitions is usually overseen by either a world, continental, or regional athletics governing
body. Athletes gain entry into these competitions by earning selection from their national
athletics governing body, which is generally done by assessing athletes via their past
achievements or performances at a national selection event. National championships are annual
competitions endorsed by a national governing body which serve the purpose of deciding the
country's best athlete in each event. Annual one-day meetings and races form the most basic
level of competition and are the most common format of athletics contests. These events are
often invitational and are organised by sports organisations, sports promoters, or other
institutions.

Competitions typically feature only one of the sports within athletics. However, major outdoor
international athletics championships and athletics competitions held as part of multi-sport
events usually feature a combination of track and field, road running and racewalking events

International competitions
…
Multi-sport events
…

The athletics competition underway at the main stadium of the 2008 Summer Olympics

The modern Summer Olympics was the first event at which a global athletics competition took
place. All the four major sports within athletics have featured in the Olympic athletics
programme since its inception in 1896, although cross country has since been dropped. The
Olympic competition is the most prestigious athletics contest, and many athletics events are
among the most watched events at the Summer Olympics. A total of 47 athletics events are held
at the Olympics, 24 for men and 23 for women (as of London 2012). The events within the men's
and women's programmes are either identical or have a similar equivalent, with the sole
exception being that men contest the 50 km race walk.[67]

Following the model of the Olympics, various other multi-sport events arose during the 20th
century, which included athletics as a core sport within the programme from the outset. These
included the Commonwealth Games, the Central American and Caribbean Games, Universiade,
and many others.

The Summer Paralympics include athletes with a physical disability. Track and field, and road
events have featured in the Paralympic athletics programme since its inception in 1960. The
Paralympic competition is the most prestigious athletics contest where athletes with a physical
disability compete. Athletics at the Paralympic Games also include wheelchair racing where
athletes compete in lightweight racing chairs. Athletes with a visual impairment compete with a
sighted guide. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, for the first time at an international
athletics event, the guides received medals,[68] such as the pilots in cycling, and the guides at the
Paralympic Winter Games have done for a while.

World championships
…
The World Athletics Championships is the primary global athletics championships held by World
Athletics. The biennial competition was first held in 1983 and now features an event programme
which is identical to the Olympics. Thus, road running, racewalking and track and field are the
sports which feature at the competition. Cross country running has its own discrete global
championships – the World Athletics Cross Country Championships – which has been held
annually since 1973. The World Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial athletics
championships which features solely indoor track and field events. The foremost separate road
running event is the annual World Athletics Half Marathon Championships (formerly IAAF World
Half Marathon Championships). While not having official world championship status, the biennial
World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships fulfils a similar role for the sport of
racewalking. Outdoor track and field is the only sport in athletics that does not have a its own
distinct global championship which is separate from other types of athletics, although the IAAF
Continental Cup (a quadrennial competition between continental teams) is composed entirely of
outdoor track and field events.

Other world championships include the World Athletics U20 Championships and the 2017
defunct World Youth Championships in Athletics, which are for athletes under-19 and under-17,
respectively. World Masters Athletics conducts the World Masters Athletics Championships for
athletes in 5-year age divisions over the age of 35. The now defunct IAAF World Road Relay
Championships served as the global event for ekiden marathon relay races.

Elite athletes with a physical disability compete at the World Para Athletics Championships.

Culture and media

Ancient Greek pottery showing the javelin and the discus throw

Athletics, and its athletes in particular, has been artistically depicted since ancient times – one
of the surviving instances include runners and high jumpers in the motifs of Ancient Egyptian
tombs dating from 2250 BC. Athletics was much respected in Ancient Greece and the events
within the ancient pentathlon provided inspiration for large statues such as the Discobolus and
Discophoros, and for motifs on countless vase and pottery works. Aristotle discussed the
significance of the pentathlon in his treatise Rhetoric and reflected on the athlete aesthetic of the
period: "a body capable of enduring all efforts, either of the racecourse or of bodily
strength...This is why the athletes in the pentathlon are most beautiful".[69]

Films about athletics are overwhelmingly focused on running events: the 1962 film The
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (based on the book of the same name) explores cross
country running as a means of escape. Chariots of Fire, perhaps one of the most well-known
athletics films, is a fictionalised account of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams's chase for sprint
gold medals at the 1924 Olympics. Track and field has been the subject of American films such
as Personal Best (1981) and Across the Tracks (1991). Biopics are found within the genre,
including Prefontaine (regarding Steve Prefontaine) and Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951)
featuring Burt Lancaster as Thorpe. Documentaries are also common with examples such as
2007 film Spirit of the Marathon, which follows runners' preparations for the 2005 Chicago
Marathon.

Books on the subject are predominantly non-fiction, and tend towards the forms of training
manuals and historical accounts of athletics. The story of the four-minute mile has been a
particularly popular subject, spawning books such as The Perfect Mile and 3:59.4: The Quest to
Break the Four Minute Mile.
Athletics journalism has spawned a number of dedicated periodicals including Athletics Weekly
and Race Walking Record, both of which were first published in England in the early 1940s, and
Track & Field News which was first published in the United States in 1948. Runner's World has
been in print since 1966 and the Track & Field Magazine of Japan (Rikujyo Kyogi Magazine) is
another long-running publication.

Athletics events have been selected as a main motif in numerous collectors' coins. One of the
recent samples is the €10 Greek Running commemorative coin, minted in 2003 to
commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the obverse of the coin, a modern athlete figure
appears in the foreground, shown in the starting position, while in the background two ancient
runners are carved in a manner that gives the appearance of a coin that is "worn" by time. This
scene originally appeared on a black-figure vase of the 6th century BC.

See also

List of Olympic medalists in athletics (men), (women)

List of world records in athletics

World records in athletics (athletes with a disability)

National records in athletics

Association of Track and Field Statisticians

Running in Ancient Greece

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

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External links

Media related to Athletics at Wikimedia Commons

International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) (http://www.iaaf.org/) website

Track and Field News (http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/) website

European Athletics (http://www.european-athletics.org/) website

GBR Athletics (http://www.gbrathletics.com/) – historical competition data

Masters World Rankings (http://www.mastersathletics.net/)

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Athletic Sports"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%

C3%A6dia_Britannica/Athletic_Sports) . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.).
 Cambridge University Press. pp. 846–849. This provides a detailed, although Anglocentric,
overview of the history of the sport.

Portals: Athletics Sport

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title=Sport_of_athletics&oldid=1077102460"

Last edited 22 days ago by Nordat