Portal:Sport of athletics
THE ATHLETICS PORTALAthletics 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. The athletics meeting forms the backbone of the Summer Olympics. The foremost international athletics meeting is the World Athletics Championships, which incorporates track and field, marathon running and race walking. Other top level competitions in athletics include the World Athletics Cross Country Championships and the World Half Marathon Championships. Athletes with a physical disability compete at the Summer Paralympics and the World Para Athletics Championships. The word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētēs, "combatant in public games") from ἆθλον (athlon, "prize") or ἆθλος (athlos, "competition"). Initially, the term described athletic contests in general – i.e. sporting competition based primarily on human physical feats. In the 19th century, the term athletics acquired a more narrow definition in Europe and came to describe sports involving competitive running, walking, jumping and throwing. This definition continues to be prominent in the United Kingdom and the former British Empire. Related words in Germanic and Romance languages also have a similar meaning. In much of North America, athletics is synonymous with sports in general, maintaining the historical usage of the term. The word "athletics" is rarely used to refer to the sport of athletics in this region. Track and field is preferred, and is used in the United States and Canada to refer to athletics events, including racewalking and marathon running (although cross country running is typically considered a separate sport). (Full article...) Athletics competitionsIt'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.
Selected article Eric Liddell, one of two characters of the movie. Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice. The film takes some liberties with the events at the 1924 Olympics, including the events surrounding Liddell's refusal to race on a Sunday. In the film, he doesn't learn that the 100 metre heat is to be held on the Christian "Sabbath" until he is boarding the boat to Paris. In fact, the schedule was made public several months in advance. Liddell did however face immense pressure to run on that Sunday and to compete in the 100 metres, getting called before a grilling by the British Olympic Committee, the Prince of Wales, and other grandees; The decision to change races was, even so, made well before embarking to Paris, and Liddell spent the intervening months training for the 400 metres, an event in which he had previously excelled. It is true, nonetheless, that Liddell's success in the Olympic 400m was largely unexpected.
Selected biography Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) is a British track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events. He has won international medals at World and European level and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history athletics. His primary event is the 100 metres, in which he has the second fastest time by a British sprinter. He is the European record holder for the 60 metres and 4×100 metres relay events with 6.42 seconds and 37.73 s respectively. He received a two-year athletics ban and a lifetime Olympic ban in 2003 after testing positive for THG, a banned performance enhancing drug. Chambers was a promising young athlete, setting a junior world record of 10.06 s in the 100 m in 1997. He was the bronze medallist in the 1999 World Championships and made his first Olympic appearance at the Sydney 2000 Games; he turned in the best 100 m performance by a European at both events. By 2001, he had become the top British sprinter, breaking the 10-second barrier twice at the Edmonton World Championships. He became the 100 m European champion and record holder in 2002, but was then banned.
World records
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TopicsGoverning bodies Category of athletics IAAF competitions EAA competitions Athletics events
Track and field • Road running • Race walking • Cross country running • Multiday race • Ultramarathon • Wheelchair racing • Backward running • Ultra-Multievents Federations
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