Athletics 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.
USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin-off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected president Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country, and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money, or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.
Sports in Hong Kong are a significant part of its culture. Due to British influence going as far back as the late 19th century, Hong Kong had an earlier introduction to Western athletics compared to other Asia regions.
The International Dragon Boat Federation is the international governing body for the sport of dragon boat racing. IDBF was founded in Hong Kong on June 24, 1991 by Australia, China, Taiwan, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States. IDBF currently has 75 member countries or territories and is supported by five continental federations.
The 2009 East Asian Games, officially known as the V East Asian Games, was an international multi-sport event that hosted by Hong Kong, between 5 December and 13 December 2009. A total of 2,377 athletes from 9 East Asian national competed in 262 events in 22 sports. It was the biggest sporting event ever held in the territory.
The Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China is the National Olympic Committee of Hong Kong. As such it is a separate member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is also a member of the Olympic Council of Asia. The current president is Timothy Fok. The headquarters building is called the Hong Kong Olympic House, located beside Hong Kong Stadium.
The 2010 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, also known as the IV Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, was an international indoor athletics event took place in Tehran, Iran, between 24 and 26 February. This was the second edition to be hosted in the country as the first championships was also held at the Aftab Enghelab Complex in Tehran. A total of 23 nations sent athletes to compete at the championships, which featured 26 track and field events.
The Asian Cross Country Championships is a biennial regional cross country running competition for athletes from Asia. It is organised by the Asian Athletics Association and was first held in 1991 in Fukuoka, Japan. The competition has been held every two years since then, although the 2003 edition was postponed due to political conflicts within the region.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
The 2013 Asian Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the biennial athletics competition between Asian nations. It was held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, India between 3–7 July. Around 522 athletes from 42 nations competed at the event. It was the first time since 1989 that India had hosted the championships.
The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, Track & Field News became the leader in creating and defining abbreviations in this field. These abbreviations have also been adopted by, among others, World Athletics; the world governing body, various domestic governing bodies, the Association of Track and Field Statisticians, the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the Associated Press, and the individual media outlets who receive their reports. These abbreviations also appear in Wikipedia.
The 2014 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the sixth edition of the international indoor athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Vocational and Technical College Athletics Hall in Hangzhou, China, between 15 and 16 February. The city was confirmed as the host in September 2013 at the 77th Council Meeting of the Asian Athletics Association. This was the second time the city held the event, successively following on from the 2012 Championships. A total of 28 nations were represented at the tournament comprising 26 track and field events.
The Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships, also known as the Balkan Indoor Games, is an annual international regional indoor track and field competition between athletes from the Balkans. Following a test event in 1991, it was officially launched in 1994. Organised by the Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations (ABAF), it is typically held in February. The competition complemented the long-running annual outdoor track and field tournament: the Balkan Games.
Hong Kong competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the territory's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, since its debut as a British colony in 1952.
Boccia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held in Riocentro, in the Barra district of Rio de Janeiro in September 2016, with a maximum of 104 athletes competing in seven events. The programme consisted of four individual events, two pairs events, and one team event, spread across four classifications.
The Hong Kong Inter-School Athletics Competition, held by the Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation annually, aims to explore young talents in track and field events, to raise standards of such competitions to an international level, and to control the selection of Hong Kong representation at interport, Asian and World Competition. In order to accommodate the huge number of 245 participating schools each year, the competition is categorized into three divisions by region. There is a total of six groups: Division one, Division two and Division three, competing in 18 events in their regions separately.
Eudice Chong is a professional tennis player from Hong Kong. Chong has thus far captured four singles and 27 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In 2022, she reached career-highs in both singles and doubles when her WTA rankings peaked at No. 213 and No. 134, respectively.
Hong Kong competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, marking the territory's seventeenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut as a British colony in 1952. More medals were won at the 2020 Summer Olympics by athletes representing Hong Kong than ever before, and Hong Kong also won its first gold medal since the handover back to China.
Hong Kong competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
The 2022 Asian U18 Athletics Championships was the fourth edition of the biennial, continental athletics competition for Asian athletes aged 15 to 17. It was held at the Ahmed Al Rashdan Track & Field Stadium in Kuwait City from 13 to 16 October 2022.
