Portal:Sport of athletics
Introduction
Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping and throwing. 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 World Athletics Awards is a prize that can be won by athletes participating in events within the sport of athletics organised by World Athletics (formerly named IAAF), including track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking.
The first athletes awarded World Athlete of the Year in 1988 were Americans, namely sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner and track and field athlete Carl Lewis.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the only athlete, male or female, to win the World Athlete of the Year Awards six times. Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and Morocco's middle-distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj have won the main award three times. Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis has also won the award three times including the inaugural World Athlete of the Year (Men's field) award in 2023 after World Athletics Awards changed from crowning a sole male and female winner to issuing awards across six categories (see below for further details). American track and field athlete Marion Jones, sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross representing the USA, Carl Lewis and other American sprinter Michael Johnson, Ethiopia's long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele, Kenya's long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge and Venezuela's triple-jumper Yulima Rojas have won the award twice each.
The Rising Star of the Year award was inaugurated in 1998, when Great Britain's sprinter Christian Malcolm was awarded. The first woman to be voted was 400 m and 400 m H specialist, Jana Pittman of Australia, in 2000.
Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele was the first to receive Rising Star award followed by Athlete of the Year trophy in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The other athletes to achieve the feat were Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, American sprinter Allyson Felix, Belgian heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam, Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, American hurdler and sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levron, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, and Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and American sprinter Erriyon Knighton are the only two athletes to be crowned Rising Star twice. (Full article...)
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Athlete birthdays
15 December:
- Harold Abrahams, British sprinter
- Harry Babcock, American pole vaulter
- Bai Xue, Chinese distance runner
- Fita Bayissa, Ethiopian distance runner
- Jehue Gordon, Trinidadian hurdler
- Jorma Kinnunen, Finnish javelin thrower
- Véronique Mang, French sprinter
- Liliya Nurutdinova, Soviet middle-distance runner
16 December:
- Donovan Bailey, Canadian sprinter
- Heike Drechsler, German long jumper and sprinter
- Horatio Fitch, American sprinter
- Vince Matthews, American sprinter
- Harold Whitlock, British race walker
17 December:
- Yuko Arimori, Japanese distance runner
- Pat Flynn, American steeplechase runner
- Konstadinos Gatsioudis, Greek javelin thrower
- Susanthika Jayasinghe, Sri Lankan sprinter
- Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet middle-distance runner
- Inna Lasovskaya, Russian triple jumper
- Galina Malchugina, Russian sprinter
- Iván Pedroso, Cuban long jumper
- Paula Radcliffe, British distance runner
- David Rudisha, Kenyan middle-distance runner
- Peter Snell, New Zealand middle-distance runner
18 December:
- Anzhela Balakhonova, Ukrainian pole vaulter
- John Cooper, British hurdler
- Fatuma Roba, Ethiopian distance runner
- Bogusław Mamiński, Polish steeplechase runner
- Matt McGrath, American hammer thrower
- Willi Wülbeck, German middle-distance runner
19 December:
- Charles Austin, American high jumper
- Michael Bates, American sprinter
- Zuzana Hejnová, Czech hurdler
- LaTasha Jenkins, American sprinter
- Sally Kipyego, Kenyan distance runner
- Isiah Koech, Kenyan distance runner
- Claudia Testoni, Italian hurdler
- Tero Pitkämäki, Finnish javelin thrower
- Erick Wainaina, Kenyan distance runner
20 December:
- Erik Almlöf, Swedish triple jumper
- Jacko Gill, New Zealand shot putter
- Bob Hayes, American sprinter
- Zahra Ouaziz, Moroccan middle- and long-distance runner
- Anja Rücker, German sprinter
- Bouabdellah Tahri, French steeplechase runner
- Hildegard Ullrich, German middle-distance runner
21 December:
- Jean Bouin, French distance runner
- Tamara Bykova, Soviet high jumper
- Florence Griffith-Joyner, American sprinter
- Dave Laut, American shot putter
- Giuseppina Leone, Italian sprinter
- Mirela Maniani, Greek javelin thrower
- Perri Shakes-Drayton, British hurdler
Related portals
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- ... that all four deaths in the thirty annual Chicago Marathons have occurred in the last ten years?
- ... 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?
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Selected biography
Stefka Georgieva Kostadinova (Bulgarian: Стефка Георгиева Костадинова; born 25 March 1965) is a Bulgarian former athlete who competed in the high jump. Her world record of 2.09 metres stood since 1987 until being broken by Yaroslava Mahuchikh in 2024 (record not verified[citation needed]). She is the 1996 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion, and a five-time World Indoor champion. She has been the president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee since 2005. (Full article...)
Kostadinova was reigning world record holder in the women's high jump until July 2024. She set a world record of 2.09 m at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome. Altogether Kostadinova set seven world records - three outdoors and four indoors. She also holds the distinction of having jumped over 2.00 m 197 times.
Kostadinova won the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, setting an Olympic record of 2.05 m. She also won a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Kostadinova won the outdoor World Championships in 1987 and 1995. She won the World Indoor Championship five times between 1985 and 1997. Kostadinova also won gold in all European Championships in Athletics in which she competed. She was a European outdoor champion in Stuttgart in 1986 and a four-time European indoor champion in 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1994.
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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 Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in an unprecedented double victory?
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... that Mokulubete Makatisi placed eighth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games women's marathon despite running in new shoes that she had received on the eve of the race?
- ... that the championship record was broken three times in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2024 World Athletics Relays?
- ... that Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 52.49 seconds?
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
World records
Topics
Athletics events
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Athletics competitions
From the first edition at the 1896 Summer Games, athletics has been considered the "queen" of the Olympics. Today, there are several other athletics championships organized at global and continental levels. Athletics also serves as the main focus of many multi-sport events such as the World University Games, Mediterranean Games, and Pan American Games. The following is a list of prominent athletics competitions.
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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