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A women's 400 m hurdles race on a typical outdoor red urethane track in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Finland.
A women's 400 m hurdles race on a typical outdoor red urethane track in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Finland. The 400 m Hurdles are an Olympic Athletics (track and field discipline
"Track & Field" redirects here. For the video game, see Track & Field (arcade game).

Athletics, also known as track and field athletics, is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing and jumping. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively Running is a means for an animal to move on Foot. It is defined in Sporting terms as a Gait in which at some point all feet are off the ground Jumping or leaping is an ability that most Humans and many Animals share to some degree The name is derived from the Greek word "athlos" meaning "contest". Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly

Contents

History

The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BC was a stadium-length foot race or "stade", run on a track. The Ancient Olympic Games, originally referred to as simply the Olympic Games (Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες Olympiakoi Agones) were a series of Athletic

There were several other "games" held in Europe in the classical era:

Other peoples, such as the Celts, Teutons and Goths who succeeded the Romans, enjoyed athletic contests. Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts The Teutons or Teutones (from Proto-Germanic * Þeudanōz) were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors The Goths ( Gothic: Gothic usvg|14px|u]]Gothic asvg|14px|a]]Gothic s However, these were often related to combat training. The ComBat was an Aluminium Cricket bat and the subject of an incident that occurred at the WACA cricket ground in Perth in December 1979. In the Middle Ages the sons of noblemen would be trained in running, leaping and wrestling, in addition to riding, jousting and arms-training. Contests between rivals and friends may have been common on both official and unofficial grounds.

In the 19th century the formal organization of the modern events started. This included the incorporation of regular sports and exercise into school regimes. The Royal Military College, Sandhurst has claimed to be the first to adopt this in 1812 and 1825, but without any supporting evidence. The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst ( RMAS) commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Army officer initial training centre The earliest recorded meeting was organised at Shrewsbury, Shropshire in 1840 by the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. Shrewsbury ( /ˈʃruːzbri/ or /ˈʃroʊzbri/ is the County town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England Shropshire (ˈʃrɒpʃɪə/ /-ʃə alternatively known as Salop or abbreviated in print only Shrops, is a county in the Shrewsbury School (formally known as King Edward VI Grammar School Shrewsbury) is an public school, located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, There are details of the meeting in a series of letters written 60 years later by C. T. Robinson, who was a pupil there from 1838 to 1841. The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich held an organised competition in 1849, but the first regular series of meetings was held by Exeter College, Oxford from 1850. Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the 4th oldest college of the University [1]

Modern athletic events are usually organized around a 400 meter running track on which most of the running events take place. Field events (vaulting, jumping, and throwing) often take place on the infield, inside the track.

Athletics was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has formed their backbone ever since. Women were first allowed to participate in track and field events in the 1928 Olympics.

An international governing body, the IAAF, was founded in 1912. The International Association of Athletics Federations ( IAAF) is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. The IAAF established separate outdoor World Championships in 1983. The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF There are a number of regional games as well, such as the European Championships, the Pan-American Games, and the Commonwealth Games. The European Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the European Athletic Association. The Pan American Games are a Multi-sport event, held every four years between competitors from all nations of The Americas. The Commonwealth Games is a multinational Multi-sport event. Held every four years it involves the elite athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations. In addition there is a professional Golden League circuit, cumulating in the IAAF World Athletics Final, and indoor championships such as the World Indoor Championships. The ÅF Golden League (previously IAAF Golden League) is an annual series of athletics meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations The IAAF World Athletics Final was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships were inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently The sport has a very high profile during major championships, especially the Olympics, but otherwise is less popular.

The AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) was the governing body in the United States until it collapsed under pressure from advancing professionalism in the late 1970s. Official NameAmateur Athletic Union of the United States Incorporated (AAU Professional sports, as opposed to amateur Sports are those in which athletes receive payment for their performance A new governing body called The Athletics Congress (TAC) was formed. It was later renamed USA Track and Field (USATF or USA T&F). USA Track & Field ( USATF) is the national governing body for the sport of track and field (or 'athletics' in the United States. An additional, less structured organization, the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA), also exists in the United States to promote road racing.

In modern times, athletes can receive money for racing, putting an end to the so-called "amateurism" that existed before. Amateurism (from Fr amateur "lover of" from OFr from L

Indoor track and field

Typical oval track consisting of two semicircles joined by straight segments.
Typical oval track consisting of two semicircles joined by straight segments.

There are two seasons for track and field. There is an indoor season, run during the winter and an outdoor season, run during the spring. Most indoor tracks are 200 meters and consist of four to six lanes. There are also some 150 meter indoor tracks, and others as small as 120 meters have been used. Some "oversize tracks" (larger than 200 meters) are popular for American collegiate athletics despite the fact that they are not considered valid for setting indoor records. Often an indoor track will have banked turns to compensate for the tight radius of the turns. The banking can help prevent injuries to the athlete, while also promoting higher speeds.

In an indoor track meet athletes contest the same track events as at an outdoor meet, with the exception of the 100 m and 110 m/100 m hurdles (replaced by the 55 or 60 m sprint and 55 or 60 m hurdles at most levels, or the 45 m sprint and hurdles at the high school level), the 10,000 m run, 3,000 m steeplechase, 400 m hurdles. Indoor meets also have the addition of a 3,000 m run normally at both the collegiate and elite level, instead of the 10,000 m. The 5,000 m is the longest event commonly run indoors, although there are situations where longer distances have been raced. In the mid 20th century, there was a series of "duel" races on Madison Square Garden's indoor track, some of which featured two men racing a marathon (26. Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, and known colloquially as The Garden, has been the name of four Arenas in New York City. 2 miles). However, this is an extremely rare occurrence, for obvious reasons. In some occasions, there may also be a 500 m race instead of the open 400 m normally found outdoors, and in many college championship races indoors both are contested.

In field events, indoor meets only feature the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, and shot put (weight throw). Due to space limitations, these events take place on the infield, within the circumferential track. The longer throws of javelin, hammer and discus are added only for outdoor meets, as there is normally not enough space in an indoor stadium to house these events.

Other events unique to indoor meets (especially in North America) are the 300, 600, 1000, and 35 lb (16 kg) weight throw. In some countries, notably Norway, standing long jump and standing high jump are also contested, even in the National Championships. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The standing long jump is an athletics event It was an Olympic event until 1912 The standing high jump is an athletic event that was featured in the Olympics from 1900 to 1912.

For multi-event athletes there is the Pentathlon for women (consisting of 60 m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 m) and heptathlon for men (consisting of 60 m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60 m hurdles, pole vault and 1000 m) indoors. The pentathlon (as opposed to the Modern pentathlon) was an athletic event in the Olympic Games and other Panhellenic Games of Ancient A heptathlon is a Track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events

Outdoor track and field

The outdoor track and field season usually begins in the spring and lasts through the summer. Most tracks are ovals of 400 meters in circumference. Modern "tartan tracks" or more recently "mondo tracks" are made with a rubberized surface; older tracks were cinder-covered. Tartan track is the Trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing for athletics made of Polyurethane. A cinder is a pyroclastic material Cinders are extrusive Igneous rocks Cinders are similar to Pumice, which has so many cavities and is such low-density Tracks normally consist of 6-10 lanes (up to 12 lanes on the 'front' straight) and many include a steeplechase lane with a water pit on one of the turns. The steeplechase is an obstacle race in athletics, which derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing This steeplechase pit can be placed either inside or outside the track, making for a tighter turn or a wider turn. It is common that tracks will surround a playing field used for American football, football (soccer), or lacrosse. American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a Team sport played between two teams of eleven players and is widely considered Lacrosse is a full contact Team sport played using a solid rubber ball and long handled racket called a crosse or Lacrosse stick. This inner field is usually known as the infield and has a surface of either grass or artificial turf.

All field events can be contested on the infield. However the javelin, hammer and discus throws are sometimes contested on fields outside of the track stadium because they take up a large amount of space, the implements may damage the infield, and the implements could end up landing on the track. However, some infields are used specifically for these events, and for the javelin, an athlete may have a longer run-up by starting it on the other side of the track, and crossing when there are no athletes passing.

Events

There are other variations besides the ones listed below, but races of unusual length (e. g. 300 m) are run much less often. The unusual races are typically held during indoor season because of the shorter 200 m indoor track. With the exception of the mile run, races based on imperial distances are rarely run on the track anymore since most tracks have been converted from a quarter mile (402. 3 m) to 400 m; almost all record keeping for imperial distances has been discontinued. However, the IAAF record book still includes the mile world record (currently held by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco for men and Svetlana Masterkova of Russia for women) because of its worldwide historic significance. Hicham El Guerrouj ( Arabic: هشام الكروج born September 14, 1974, Berkane) is a Moroccan former middle distance Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa Svetlana Alexandrovna Masterkova (Russian ru светлана александровна мастеркова (born January 17, 1968) is a Russian Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending

Men and women do not compete against each other, although they may sometimes run in the same races due to time constraints at high school meets. Women generally run the same distances as men although hurdles and steeplechase barriers are lower and the weights of the shot, discus, javelin and hammer are less.

Running Events

The following are running events conducted on a 400 m track.

Sprints: The Sprints are events up to and including the 400 meters. Common lengths include:

Middle Distance Events: events from 600 meters to the mile. Common lengths include:

Long Distance Events: events over, and including, the 3000 meters (3K). Common lengths include:

In the United States, high school athletes in most states normally run the 800m, 1600 m, and 3200 m. In a few states high school athletes run the 1500 m and 3000 m or mile and 2 mile instead of the 1600 m and 3200m. Some people also consider the two mile distances to be middle distance events.

Hurdles: events that require the runner to jump over evenly spaced barriers during the race. Common lengths include

Relays: races in which four athletes participate as a team, passing a metal baton in between. Common lengths include:

Some events, such as medley relays, are rarely run except at large relay carnivals. Typical medley relays include:

Most American high schools run the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800, where college meets usually only include the 4x100 and 4x400. In both instances, the 4x400 is the last event at the meet.

Road Races: conducted on open roads, but often finishing on the track. Common lengths are:

The marathon is the only common road-racing distance run in major international athletics championships, such as the Olympics.

Race Walking: usually conducted on open roads, but is also a typical event in high school meets. Common lengths are 10, 20 and 50 kilometers.

Field Events

Throwing Events:

The "hammer" used for the hammer throw is different, whether the event is indoors (often a large ball, resembling a medicine ball, with a handle attached) or outdoors (basically a shot with a handle attached)

Jumping Events:

The following events also take place, but are uncommon:

Multiple Event Competitions

Multiple event competitions include events from both the track (running) and field events.

Pentathlon: the Pentathlon includes the following five events:

Heptathlon: the Heptathlon includes the following seven events:

Outdoors (usually only women):

Indoors (usually only men):

Decathlon: the Decathlon includes the following ten events:

See also

External links

Video Interviews


References

  1. ^ Oxford Companion to Sports and Games, ed. The Association of Track and Field Statisticians ( ATFS) was founded in 1950 Athletics Weekly is an athletics Magazine published in the United Kingdom by Descartes Publishing. Track & Field News is a magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson & Cordner Nelson, focused on the world Masters athletics is a class of track and field competition featuring five-year age groups beginning at age 35 This is the complete list of men's Olympic Medalists in Track and Field from 1896 to 2008. This is the complete list of women's Olympic Medalists in athletics from 1928 to 2008 World records in Athletics (track and field are ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations. US records in track & field Outdoor US records Men Women Indoor US records Men Women Men's track records Walking Women's track records Men's field records Women's field records This is a list of European records in athletics. Outdoor Men Women Indoor Men Women Fully automatic time (abbreviated FAT) is a form of race Timing in which the clock is automatically activated by the starting device and the finish time Running shorts are a specialized form of Shorts worn by runners. //wwwiloveshellsuitscom]A tracksuit is an article of Clothing[] consisting of two parts- Trousers and a Jacket. J.Arlott, O. Leslie Thomas John Arlott ( February 25, 1914 &ndash December 14, 1991) was a freelance author whose main subjects were sport and wine a poet U. P. (1975)

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