The 1951 Asian Games, officially known as the First Asian Games, was a multi-sport event celebrated in New Delhi, India from 4 to 11 March 1951. The Games received names like First Asiad, 1951 Asiad, and New Dehli 1951. A total of 489 athletes representing 11 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 57 events from eight sports and discipline. The Games was the successor of the Far Eastern Games and the revival of the Western Asiatic Games. The 1951 Asiad were originally scheduled to be held in 1950, but postponed until 1951 due to delays in preparations. On 13 February 1949, the Asian Games Federation was formally established in Delhi, with Delhi unanimously announced as the first host city of the Asian Games.
Andreas Thorkildsen is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the first male javelin thrower in history to simultaneously be European, World and Olympic Champion. He was also a three-time silver medalist at the World Championships, placing second in 2005, 2007 and 2011. His personal best of 91.59 m, set in 2006, is the Norwegian record.
Chitra Kulathummuriyil Soman was born in Mattakkara, Kottayam, Kerala. Her father is from Kottayam and her mother is from kanjirappally, Kerala. She is an Indian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. Soman finished seventh in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics, together with teammates Satti Geetha, K. M. Beenamol and Rajwinder Kaur. This team, only with Manjeet Kaur running instead of Geetha, had set a national record of 3:26.89 minutes in the heat. Soman also ran for the Indian team who won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In 2007, Chitra Soman won gold medal in 400m race at Asian Grand Prix series held at Guwahati on 23 June 2007 and at Puen held on 27 June 2007. She also led Indian women 4 × 400 m relay team to Gold in Asian Athletics Championship held at Amman in July 2007. In 2008, Chitra again showed her class by leading another win for Indian women 4 × 400 m relay team in 3rd Asian Indoor Championship in Athletics held in Doha in Feb 2008.
Uwe Hohn is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is the only athlete to throw a javelin 100 metres or more, with his world record of 104.80 m. A new javelin design was implemented in 1986 and the records had to be restarted, thus Hohn's mark became an "eternal world record". After his retirement from competition, Hohn became a coach and since 1999 he has worked for SC Potsdam, the successor of ASK Vorwärts Potsdam, where he started his career as a sportsman. He coached Indian track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra, who won the gold in the men's javelin throw at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.
Asami Chiba, or Tanno, is a Japanese sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. She is the Japanese record holder in the event, and has also broken the national record in the 4×400 metres relay on multiple occasions. She is a member of Natureal Athlete Club in Japan and is coached by Kazuhisa Kawamoto.
Manjeet Kaur is an Indian sprint athlete from Punjab who specializes in 400 metres. She held the 400 m National record of 51.05 seconds set at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in Chennai on 16 June 2004. She broke the previous record held by K. M. Beenamol since November 2001. In doing so, she passed the qualifying mark for the 2004 Athens Olympics. She along with Chitra K. Soman, Rajwinder Kaur and K. M. Beenamol form the team that holds the current National record in 4 x 400 metres relay.
The Asian U20 Athletics Championships are the Asian championships open for those of age according to junior. It is currently organized by the Asian Athletics Association.
The South American U18 Championships in Athletics is a biennial athletics event organized by "Confederación Sudamericana de Atletismo" (CONSUDATLE), the South American area association of the World Athletics (IAAF). Starting in 1973, the competition was open for athletes under-17 in the early years. Since 2000 the international age group definition has applied. Up until the 2016 edition the competition was known as the South American Youth Championships in Athletics. The tournament is open for athletes from CONSUDATLE member federations. Athletes from IAAF members of other geographical areas may be invited. However, they are not considered in the classification.
In India, the Athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946.
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 individual media outlets who receive their reports. These abbreviations also appear in Wikipedia.
Palakkeezhil Unnikrishnan Chitra is an Indian middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500m distance. She won gold medals at the 2016 South Asian Games and 2017 Asian Championships and a bronze at the 2018 Asian Games. She won gold medal at the 2019 Doha Asian Athletics Championships
Johannes Vetter is a German athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He won gold at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. His personal best of 97.76 m is the German record, and ranks him second on the overall list behind Jan Železný. Vetter currently trains under Boris Obergföll and is a member of LG Offenburg's track and field squad. He was previously with SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken and Dresdner SC.
The Philippines national athletics team represents the Philippines at the international athletics competitions such as Olympic Games or World Athletics Championships. Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) is the governing body of athletics in the Philippines. The first participation of the Philippines in an international competition was at the Far Eastern Games in 1913. As for the olympics, their first participation began in 1924 and has continued every summer olympics except for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The first win that the Philippines national athletics team had won though was the olympic games, receiving a bronze medal in the Men's 200 meters breaststroke, won by Teófilo Yldefonso, in the 1928 Amsterdam summer Olympics.
Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete. Considered as the greatest Indian javelin thrower, he's a double medalist at the Olympics, World Championships, and the Asian Games. He has won the Diamond League once. Chopra won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, becoming the first Asian javelin throw athlete to do so. He became the first Asian to win a gold in javelin at the World Championships after his win in 2023. Chopra has won gold medals in every major tournament. He has a podium finish streak in 24 consecutive competitions, dating back to 2020. Since his performance at the 2016 World U20 Championship, he continues to hold the junior javelin throw world record.
Seaman Muhammed Anas Yahiya is an Indian sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres distance. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 400 metres and the 4 × 400 m relay, and holds the national record (45.24) in the 400 meters, which he set at the 2019 Czech Athletics Championships. And finally he won a gold medal at the men's 4×400 metres relay event at the 2022 Asian Games.
Anu Raghavan is an Indian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles events.
Junior Warrant Officer Shivpal Singh is an Indian javelin thrower and a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in Indian Air Force.
