Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is a Cuban retired track and field athlete, who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. The 1992 Olympic champion, he was the dominant high jumper of the 1990s; his personal best of 2.45 m makes him the only person ever to have cleared eight feet.
The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America. The music for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies was composed by Canadian composers Jan Randall and Cassius Khan. The ceremonies also featured a 1000 voice choir, and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay was a formerly run British and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
The 2nd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 18, and September 19, 2004.
The 3rd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 9, and September 10, 2005.
Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
The women's 75 kilograms weightlifting event was the sixth women's event at the weightlifting competition, with competitors limited to a maximum of 75 kilograms of body mass. The whole competition took place on August 15 at 15:30. This event was the ninth Weightlifting event to conclude.
The men's K-2 1000 metres competition in canoeing at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing between August 18 and 22. The K-2 event is raced in two-person kayaks.
The men's high jump event at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Olympic Stadium on Friday, 22 September and Sunday, 24 September. Thirty-five athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The high jump has been ever present since the beginning of the modern Olympic Games in 1896. The event was won by Sergey Klyugin of Russia, the nation's first medal and victory in the men's high jump in the nation's first appearance after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Javier Sotomayor of Cuba was the eighth man to win a second medal in the event ; he joined Valeriy Brumel and Jacek Wszoła as the most successful Olympic high jumpers in history with a gold and a silver—despite missing the 1984 and 1988 Games due to boycott and being hampered by injury in 1996. Abderrahmane Hammad's bronze was Algeria's first medal in the men's high jump.
Italy was represented by 73 athletes at the 2010 European Athletics Championships held in Barcelona, Spain. It is the third most important team selection, after those of Munich 2002 and Göteborg 2006. The standard-bearer will be Antonietta Di Martino.
The women's 1500 metres at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Nagai Stadium on 29, 31 August and 2 September.
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The women's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 5–8 August.
The 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the fifteenth edition of the international indoor track and field competition, organised by the IAAF. The event was held between 7–9 March 2014 at the Ergo Arena in Sopot, Poland.
The women's 400 metres event at the 1995 Summer Universiade was held on 31 August – 1 September at the Hakatanomori Athletic Stadium in Fukuoka, Japan.
The 2003 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was organised by USA Track & Field and held from June 19 to 22 at the Cobb Track & Angell Field in Palo Alto, California. The four-day competition served as the national championships in track and field for the United States and also the trials for the 2003 World Championships in Athletics.
The 4×100 metres relay at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 4×100 metres relay at the Olympics. The competition format typically has one qualifying round leading to a final between eight teams. As of 2015, nations can qualify for the competition through a top eight finish at the previous IAAF World Relays event, with the remaining teams coming through the more traditional route of ranking highly on time in the seasonal lists.
