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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Selected article
The mechanics of the running blades used by South African former Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius depend on special carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer prosthetics. Pistorius has double below-the-knee amputations and competed in both non-disabled and T44 amputee athletics events. Pistorius's eligibility to run in international non-disabled events is sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Pistorius began running in 2004 after a rugby knee injury which led to rehabilitation at the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre with coach Ampie Louw. His first racing blades were fitted by South African prosthetist Francois Vanderwatt. Because he was unable to find suitable running blades in Pretoria, Vanderwatt ordered some to be made by a local engineer at Hanger Orthopedic Group. These quickly broke, and Vanderwatt referred Pistorius to American prosthetist and Paralympic sprinter Brian Frasure to be fitted for carbon-fibre blades by Icelandic company Össur.
Pistorius's participation in non-disabled international sprinting competitions in 2007 raised questions about his use of running blades, and the IAAF amended their rules to ban the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device." After initial studies, Pistorius was ruled ineligible for competitions under these IAAF rules. After further research was presented, the Court of Arbitration (CAS) ruled that his running prostheses were not shown to provide a net competitive advantage over biological legs. In 2012, Pistorius qualified for and competed in both the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2012 Paralympic Games using his running blades, becoming the first amputee sprinter to run in the Olympic Games. (Full article...)
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Athlete birthdays
26 May:
- Arto Bryggare, Finnish hurdler
- Zola Budd, British-South African runner
- Dani Samuels, Australian discus thrower
- Michel Tornéus, Swedish long jumper
- Romas Ubartas, Lithuanian discus thrower
27 May:
- Yenew Alamirew, Ethiopian distance runner
- José Luiz Barbosa, Brazilian middle-distance runner
- Don Finlay, British hurdler
- Lon Spurrier, American middle-distance runner
- Dink Templeton, American coach
- Christa Vahlensieck, German distance runner
28 May:
- Bill Baillie, New Zealand distance runner
- Mike Musyoki, Kenyan distance runner
- João Carlos de Oliveira, Brazilian triple jumper
- Derval O'Rourke, Irish hurdler
- Jim Thorpe, American decathlete
29 May:
- Frank Baumgartl, German steeplechase runner
- Nataliya Dobrynska, Ukrainian heptathlete
- Ralph Metcalfe, American sprinter
- Zhu Jianhua, Chinese high jumper
30 May:
- Wyndham Halswelle, British sprinter
- Margaret Okayo, Kenyan distance runner
- Kyle Vander-Kuyp, Australian hurdler
31 May:
- Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Soviet hammer thrower and coach
- Stéphane Caristan, French hurdler
- John Godina, American shot putter
- Gabriele Hinzmann, German discus thrower
- Tapio Kantanen, Finnish steeplechase runner
- Karin Melis Mey, South African-Turkish long jumper
- Joachim Olsen, Danish shot putter
- Karl-Hans Riehm, German hammer thrower
- Aleksey Zagorniy, Russian hammer thrower
1 June:
- Hasna Benhassi, Moroccan middle-distance runner
- Antonietta Di Martino, Italian high jumper
- Werner Günthör, Swiss shot putter
- Mihaela Loghin, Romanian shot putter
- Moses Masai, Kenyan distance runner
- Lorraine Moller, New Zealand distance runner
- David Neville, American sprinter
- Olga Nazarova, Soviet sprinter
- Brian Oldfield, American shot putter
- Yarisley Silva, Cuban pole vaulter
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- ... that wind assistance has caused the non-ratification of many potential world records in athletics?
- ... that Patrick Ivuti's photo finish victory in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, one of the five major marathons, was his first marathon victory?
Archive |
Selected biography
Iolanda Balaș (Romanian pronunciation: [joˈlanda ˈbalaʃ], Hungarian: Balázs Jolán, later Balázs-Sőtér Jolán; 12 December 1936 – 11 March 2016) was a Romanian athlete, an Olympic champion and former world record holder in the high jump. She was the first Romanian woman to win an Olympic gold medal and is considered to have been one of the greatest high jumpers of the twentieth century. (Full article...)
Balaș took up athletics owing to her caretaker Luisa Ernst, who was also a retired high jumper.[1] In 1953 she transferred from Timișoara club "Electrica" to CCA (CSA Steaua). After finishing fifth in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, she won Olympic gold medals at Rome in 1960 (becoming the first Romanian woman to do so)[2] and Tokyo in 1964. At the 1964 Olympics she competed with a torn tendon, which forced her later to withdraw from the 1966 European Championships. Nevertheless, between 1957 and 1966, Balaș won 154 consecutive competitions,[3] not including qualifying competitions or exhibitions. She improved the world record 14 times, from 1.75 m to 1.91 m, and equalled it once outdoors and once indoors. She was the first woman to jump over six feet. Her technique was a sophisticated version of the scissors technique.[1]
Her record of 1.91 m, set in 1961, lasted until the end of 1971 (beaten by Ilona Gusenbauer from Austria), when jumpers with a more efficient technique (the straddle technique, and later the Fosbury style) took over.[1]
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 for the first time this century, this year's British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television?
- ... 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 Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?
- ... 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 the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
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
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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Sources
- ^ a b c "Iolanda Balaş". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ "Romanian high jumper Iolanda Balas dies at 79". Daily Herald. Associated Press. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ "The Sport's Longest Winning Streak Gets Longer", Track & Field News (August 2016), p. 47.