Portal:Sport of athletics

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Welcome to THE ATHLETICS PORTAL

Introduction

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

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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The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) is the National Sports Association (NSA) for athletics sports such as track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking in the Philippines, including the core athletics sports which constitute the Decathlon in the Olympic Games. PATAFA is also a member of the Asian Athletics (AA) and the World Athletics. (Full article...)

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Sally Pearson and Usain Bolt, along with IAAF president Lamine Diack and Prince Albert of Monaco, pose with the IAAF Athlete of the Year awards in Monaco.

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Walter Dix at the Olympic Trials 2008

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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World records

World records (olympic events only) as of 7 July 2024
Bolded, italicized records with two asterisks (**) are pending ratification by World Athletics.
Event Men Record (Year) Women Record (Year)
100 metres Jamaica Usain Bolt 9.58 (2009) United States Florence Griffith Joyner 10.49 (1988)
200 metres Jamaica Usain Bolt 19.19 (2009) United States Florence Griffith Joyner 21.34 (1988)
400 metres South Africa Wayde van Niekerk 43.03 (2016) East Germany Marita Koch 47.60 (1985)
800 metres Kenya David Rudisha 1:40.91 (2012) Czechoslovakia Jarmila Kratochvílová 1:53.28 (1983)
1500 metres Morocco Hicham El Guerrouj 3:26.00 (1998) Kenya Faith Kipyegon 3:49.04 (2024)**
5000 metres Uganda Joshua Cheptegei 12:35.36 (2020) Ethiopia Gudaf Tsegay 14:00.21 (2023)
10000 metres Uganda Joshua Cheptegei 26:11.00 (2020) Kenya Beatrice Chebet 28:54.14 (2024)**
Marathon Kenya Kelvin Kiptum 2:00:35 (2023) Ethiopia Tigst Assefa 2:11:53 Mx (2023)
3000 metres steeplechase Ethiopia Lamecha Girma 7:52.11 (2023) Kenya Beatrice Chepkoech 8:44.32 (2018)
110 metres hurdles (men)

100 metres hurdles (women)

United States Aries Merritt 12.80 (2012) Nigeria Tobi Amusan 12.12 (2022)
400 metres hurdles Norway Karsten Warholm 45.94 (2021) United States Sydney McLaughlin 50.65 (2024)**
High jump Cuba Javier Sotomayor 2.45 m (1993) Ukraine Yaroslava Mahuchikh 2.10 m (2024)**
Pole vault Sweden Armand Duplantis 6.24 m (2024)** Russia Yelena Isinbayeva 5.06 m (2009)
Long jump United States Mike Powell 8.95 m (1991) Soviet Union Galina Chistyakova 7.52 m (1988)
Triple jump United Kingdom Jonathan Edwards 18.29 m (1995) Venezuela Yulimar Rojas 15.74 m (2022)
Shot put United States Ryan Crouser 23.56 m (2023) Soviet Union Natalya Lisovskaya 22.63 m (1987)
Discus throw Lithuania Mykolas Alekna 74.35 m (2024)** East Germany Gabriele Reinsch 76.80 m (1988)
Hammer throw Soviet Union Yuriy Sedykh 86.74 m (1986) Poland Anita Włodarczyk 82.98 m (2016)
Javelin throw Czech Republic Jan Železný 98.48 m (1996) Czech Republic Barbora Špotáková 72.28 m (2008)
Decathlon (men)

Heptathlon (women)

France Kevin Mayer 9126 pts (2018) United States Jackie Joyner-Kersee 7291 pts (1988)
20 kilometres racewalk Japan Yusuke Suzuki 1:16:36 (2015) China Yang Jiayu 1:23:49 (2021)
4×100 metres relay  Jamaica 36.84 (2012)  United States 40.82 (2012)
4×400 metres relay  United States 2:54.29 (1993)  Soviet Union 3:15.17 (1988)

Topics

Athletics events

Events in the sport of athletics

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

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