- Also called:
- track-and-field sports or track and field
- Key People:
- Mike Powell
- Butch Reynolds
- Mary Decker
- Harrison Dillard
- Ben Johnson
- Related Topics:
- pole vault
- weight throw
- hammer throw
- shot put
- race walking
- On the Web:
- International Olympic Committee - Athletics (Oct. 29, 2026)
-
What is athletics?
Athletics is a collection of running, walking, jumping, and throwing competitions. It is known as track and field in the United States, but is generally called athletics in other parts of the world. Track and field events are the oldest forms of organized sport, growing from basic human activities. Athletics is a truly international sport, with almost every country participating in some form of competition, such as the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
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What are the main types of events in athletics?
Athletics includes a variety of competitions in running, walking, jumping, and throwing events. As many as 25 events may make up a menâs meet, with women competing in a few less. These events generally make up a meet that is held outdoors.
Menâs track events usually include the 100-, 200-, 400-, 800-, 1,500-, 5,000-, and 10,000-meter runs; the 3,000-meter steeplechase; the 110- and 400-meter hurdles; and the 400- and 1,500-meter relays. The field events normally include the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus throw, hammer throw, and javelin throw. Men compete in the decathlon, a competition that combines 10 track and field events, while women compete in the heptathlon, which consists of seven events.
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How are track and field events different from each other in athletics?
Athletics includes a variety of running, walking, jumping, and throwing events. Running events range from sprints, which focus on bursts of speed over short distances, to long-distance races that test endurance. Jumping events include the high jump, long jump, triple jump, and pole vault, each requiring different techniques to achieve maximum height or distance. Throwing events such as shot put, discus, hammer throw, and javelin, involve hurling implements for distance. Additionally, combined events like the decathlon (for men) and heptathlon (for women) test athletes' skills across multiple track and field disciplines.
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What equipment is commonly used in athletics competitions?
Athletics competitions use a variety of equipment specific to each event. All athletes need appropriate shoes for traction and protection. Sprinters and hurdlers use starting blocks, and hurdlers also need hurdles. Vaulting poles are essential for the pole vault. Throwing events like shot put, discus, hammer, and javelin require implements of different weights and shapes designed for hurling. Accurate timing and measurement devices are also needed to determine winners and set records.
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How are athletes judged or scored in athletic events?
In athletics, judging and scoring vary across events. In track events, the runner whose torso reaches the finish line first is the winner. Fully automatic timing, measured in hundredths of a second, is required in major competitions. An aiding wind of more than 2 meters per second can nullify a record time in distances up to 200 meters.
Field events such as the high jump and pole vault give competitors three attempts at each height; three consecutive misses result in elimination. In diving, judges consider the approach, takeoff, flight, and entry into the water. Each diver gets a score between 0 and 10; the top two and bottom two scores are discarded, and the remaining three are added together and multiplied by the diveâs difficulty rating. In gymnastics, judges consider both the difficulty and execution of the routine.
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What are some famous global competitions for athletics, and why are they important?
Global athletic competitions showcase athletic talent and promote international cooperation. They also provide a platform for cultural exchange and national pride.
Some of the most famous competitions include:
- Olympic Games Held every four years, the Olympics are the most prestigious international athletic event.
- World Athletics Championships. The World Athletics Championships occur every four years.
- Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is the worldâs oldest annual marathon.
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athletics, a variety of competitions in running, walking, jumping, and throwing events. Although these contests are called track and field (or simply track) in the United States, they are generally designated as athletics elsewhere. This article covers the history, the organization, and the administration of the sports, the conduct of competitions, the rules and techniques of the individual events, and some of the sportsâ most prominent athletes.
Track-and-field athletics are the oldest forms of organized sport, having developed out of the most basic human activitiesârunning, walking, jumping, and throwing. Athletics have become the most truly international of sports, with nearly every country in the world engaging in some form of competition. Most nations send teams of men and women to the quadrennial Olympic Games and to the official World Championships of track and field. There also are several continental and intercontinental championship meets held, including the European, Commonwealth, African, Pan-American, and Asian.
Within the broad title of athletics come as many as two dozen distinct events. These events, generally held outdoors, make up a meet. The outdoor running events are held on a 400-meter or 440-yard oval track, and field events (jumping and throwing) are held either inside the trackâs perimeter or in adjacent areas.
In many parts of the world, notably the United States, Canada, and Europe, the sport moves indoors during the winter; because of limited space, some events are modified and several are eliminated altogether.
Also within the general scope of track-and-field athletics come separate but related competitions that are not contested on the track. Cross-country running competition is carried out on various types of countryside and parkland. Marathons and races of other long distances are run on roads, and the long-distance race walks are contested on measured road courses. The rules followed by all organized competitions are established and enforced by World Athletics (formerly the International Association of Athletics Federations [IAAF]) and its member body from each nation. World Athletics also ratifies all world records.
History
Origin and early development
There is little in the way of definitive records of athleticsâ early days as organized sport. Egyptian and Asian civilizations are known to have encouraged athletics many centuries before the Christian era. Perhaps as early as 1829 bce, Ireland was the scene of the Lugnasad festivalâs Tailteann Games, involving various forms of track-and-field activity. The Olympic Games of Greece, traditionally dated from 776 bce, continued through 11 centuries before ending about 393 ce. These ancient Olympics were strictly male affairs, as to both participants and spectators. Greek women were reputed to have formed their own Heraea Games, which, like the Olympics, were held every four years.
Athletics as practiced today was born and grew to maturity in England. The first mention of the sport in England was recorded in 1154, when practice fields were first established in London. The sport was banned by King Edward III in the 1300s but revived a century later by Henry VIII, reputed to be an accomplished hammer thrower.
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Modern development
The development of the modern sport, however, has come only since the early 19th century. Organized amateur footraces were held in England as early as 1825, but it was from 1860 that athletics enjoyed its biggest surge to that date. In 1861 the West London Rowing Club organized the first meet open to all amateurs, and in 1866 the Amateur Athletic Club (AAC) was founded and conducted the first English championships. The emphasis in all these meets was on competition for âgentlemen amateursâ who received no financial compensation. In 1880 the AAC yielded governing power to the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA).
The first meet in North America was held near Toronto in 1839, but it was the New York Athletic Club, formed in the 1860s, that placed the sport on a solid footing in the United States. The club held the worldâs first indoor meet and helped promote the formation in 1879 of the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America (NAAAA) to conduct national championships. Nine years later the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) took over as national governing body, amid reports that the NAAAA was lax in enforcing amateurism.
Athletics was well established in many countries by the late 1800s, but not until the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 did the sport become truly international. Although begun modestly, the Olympics provided the inspiration and standardizing influence that was to spread interest in athletics worldwide. In 1912 the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) was founded, and by the time that organization celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1987 it had more than 170 national members. Its rules applied only to menâs competition until 1936, when the IAAF also became the governing body of womenâs athletics. The IAAF changed its name to World Athletics in 2019.
Major international competitions before World War II included the Olympics, the British Empire Games, and the European Championships, but after the war athletics experienced its greatest period of growth, taking root especially in the developing countries. By the 1950s world-class athletes from African, Asian, and Latin American nations were enjoying great success at international meets.