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...)
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Pacing strategies in track and field are the varied strategies which runners use to distribute their energy throughout a race. Optimal strategies exist and have been studied for the different events of track and field. These optimal strategies differ for runners in sprint events, such as the 100 meters, runners in middle-distance events, such as the 800 meters or the mile run, and runners in long-distance events, such as the 5000m or marathon. Additionally, pacing typically differs between different styles of races. For instance, in a time trial, where the goal of a racer is simply to run the fastest time, participants will typically employ the aforementioned optimal pacing strategy. However, in a championship race, where the goal of the racer is to win, the pace is typically slow in the beginning of the race and gradually speeds up for a sprint finish, often meaning the race is run with a negative split. Typically, to run a world record, the runner must employ a near-optimal pacing strategy. (Full article...)
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Athlete birthdays
5 July:
- Abeba Aregawi, Ethiopian-Swedish middle-distance runner
- Matthew Birir, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- Valentí Massana, Spanish race walker
- Wim Peters, Dutch triple jumper
- Carlo Thränhardt, German high jumper
- John Woodruff, American middle-distance runner
6 July:
- Valerie Brisco-Hooks, American sprinter
- Rex Cawley, American hurdler
- Benita Fitzgerald-Brown, American hurdler
- Gunhild Hoffmeister, German middle-distance runner
- Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand coach
- Mary Peters, British pentathlete
- Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, Ukrainian sprinter
- Jozef Pribilinec, Czechoslovakian race walker
- László Tábori, Hungarian middle-distance runner
7 July:
- Murray Halberg, New Zealand distance runner
- Kerstin Knabe, German hurdler
- Adam Nelson, American shot putter
- Tina Paulino, Mozambican middle-distance runner
8 July:
- Harrison Dillard, American hurdler and sprinter
- Shalane Flanagan, American distance runner
- Olesya Krasnomovets, Russian sprinter
- Wang Liping, Chinese race walker
9 July:
- Pauline Davis-Thompson, Bahamian sprinter
- Ben Eastman, American 400/800 runner
- Olusoji Fasuba, Nigerian sprinter
- Kara Goucher, American distance runner
- Sim Iness, American discus thrower
- Derek Mills, American sprinter
- Gulnara Samitova-Galkina, Russian steeplechase runner
- Richard Sheldon, American shot putter and discus thrower
- Rutger Smith, Dutch shot putter and discus thrower
10 July:
- Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian middle-distance runner
- Herb McKenley, Jamaican sprinter
- Rashid Sharafetdinov, Soviet distance runner
- C.K. Yang, Taiwanese decathlete
11 July:
- Earlene Brown, American shot putter and discus thrower
- Monique Éwanjé-Épée, French hurdler
- Kostas Kenteris, Greek sprinter
- Lynn Williams, Canadian middle- and long-distance runner
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- ... that wind assistance has caused the non-ratification of many potential world records in athletics?
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Selected biography
Sergey Nazarovych Bubka (Ukrainian: Сергій Назарович Бубка; Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka; born 4 December 1963) is a former Ukrainian pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News, and in 2012 was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame.
Bubka won six consecutive IAAF World Championships, an Olympic gold medal, and broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times. He was the first pole vaulter to clear 6.0 meters and 6.10 meters.
He held the indoor world record of 6.15 meters, set on 21 February 1993 in Donetsk, Ukraine for almost 21 years until France's Renaud Lavillenie cleared 6.16 meters on February 15, 2014, at the same meet in the same arena. He held the outdoor world record at 6.14 meters between July 31, 1994, and September 17, 2020.
Bubka is Senior Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), serving since 2007, and served as President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine from 2005 to November 2022. He is also an Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), having been involved since 1996. His older brother, Vasiliy Bubka, was also a medal-winning pole vaulter. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... 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 at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... 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 Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?
- ... 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 when the Oakland Athletics promoted Bill McNulty to the major leagues, they needed forest rangers to find him?
- ... 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?
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 | 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 |
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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