Athletics

Athletics is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing and jumping. It is also known as 'track and field' or 'track and field athletics.'

The word 'athletics' is derived from the Greek word "athlos" that means "contest." In some languages like German and Russian, it is referred as "light athletics" to distinguish them from "heavy athletics," such as weight lifting, wrestling, etc.

ATHLETIC EVENTS

• Track events: running events conducted on a 400 meter track.
  • Sprints: events up to and including 400 m. Common events are 60 m (indoors only), 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres.
  • Middle distance: events from 800m to 3000 m, especially 800 metres, 1500 metres, mile and 3000m. In the United States (especially high schools), distance events include 800 m, 1600 m (mile), and 3200 m (2 miles). (1 mile=1609.344 meters)
    • Steeplechase - a race (usually 3000 m) in which runners must negotiate barriers and water jumps.
  • Long distance: runs over 5000 m. Common events are 5000 m and 10000 m. Less common are 6, 12, 24 hour races.
  • Hurdling: 110 m high hurdles (100 m for women) and 400 m intermediate hurdles (300 m in some high schools).
  • Relays: 4 x 100 metres relay, 4 x 400 metres relay, 4 x 200 m, 4 x 800 m, etc. Some events, such as medley relays, are rarely run except at large relay carnivals. Most American high schools run the 4x100 and 4x400, with the 4x400 being the finishing event to the meet.
• Road running: conducted on open roads, but often finishing on the track. Common events are half-marathon and marathon. The marathon is the only distance run in major international athletics championships such as the Olympics.
• Race walking: usually conducted on open roads. Common events are 10 km, 20 km and 50 km.
• Field events
  • Throwing events
    • Shot put
    • Hammer throw
    • Javelin throw
    • Discus throw
  • Jumping events
    • High jump
    • Long jump
    • Pole vault
    • Triple jump
    • Standing high jump
    • Standing long jump
    • Standing triple jump
• Combined or Multi events
  • Pentathlon
  • Heptathlon
  • Decathlon

DO YOU KNOW

Athletics was the original event at the first Olympics (ancient) 776 BC
Then the only event held was the stadium-length foot race or "stade."	Athletics was included in the first modern Olympic Games in the year 1896 and has been part of the program ever since, providing the backbone of the Olympics.
Todays athletic events are organized around a 400 metre running track, on which most of the running events take place.	Field events like vaulting, jumping, and throwing takes place in the field in the centre of the running track.