Koji Alexander Murofushi, is a former Japanese hammer thrower and sports scientist. He has been among the world elite since the 2001 World Championships, where he won the silver medal. He was the 2004 Olympic champion. In 2011, he was crowned world champion.
The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011.
Betty Heidler is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw. She held the world record from 2011 until 2014 with her personal best throw of 79.42 m. She is the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, the 2007 World champion and the 2009 and 2011 World Championship silver medallist. She also finished fourth in the Olympic finals in 2004 and 2016.
Caterine Ibargüen Mena ODB is a retired Colombian athlete competing in high jump, long jump and triple jump. Her notable achievements include a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics, two gold medals in the World Championships in Athletics, and two gold medals in the 2011 Pan American Games and 2015 Pan American Games.
Nina Grigoryevna Otkalenko was a Soviet middle-distance runner. She won a European title in the 800 m at the inaugural 1954 European Athletics Championships and set multiple world records in this event in 1951–54. She missed the 1952 and 1956 Olympics, where women's middle-distance events were not part of the program, and the 1960 Olympics due to an injury.
David Lekuta Rudisha, MBS is a retired Kenyan middle-distance runner who is the world and Olympic record holder in the 800 metres. Rudisha won gold medals in the 800 m at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympic games. He is also a two-time World champion and two-time Diamond League champion in the 800 m. Rudisha is the first and only person to ever run 800 m under 1:41, and he holds the three fastest times ever run in this event, each being a world record when set.
Mariya Sergeyevna Savinova is a Russian former athlete who specialized in the 800 metres event. In 2017, she was found guilty of doping and was subsequently suspended from competition for four years. In addition to the ban, she had three years of elite results nullified and was stripped of both her World Championship medals and her 2012 Olympic gold medal.
Javier Culson Pérez is a Puerto Rican athlete and Olympiad bronze medalist who specialises in the 400-metre hurdles. After becoming involved with the discipline in his late teen years, he entered the podium in some regional youth events, including the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships. Culson is a two-time silver medallist at the International Association of Athletics Federations's (IAAF) World Championships and an elite contender in the Samsung Diamond League, where he finished second overall in 2011. He has also garnished medals in events with lower profiles, including the Central American and Caribbean Games and the Ibero-American Championships. He currently holds the record as "the world's fastest man" in that category. Culson also competed at the 2012 Olympics in London winning the bronze medal in the 400-metre hurdles race. In the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Culson made it all the way to the finals of the men's 400m hurdles only to be disqualified by a false start.
Wang Zhen is a Chinese race walker who specialises in the 10 kilometres and 20 kilometres race walk. He holds the senior Asian record for the 20 km with his time of 1:17:36 hours and is also the Asian, Chinese and junior world record holder over 10 km. He was the bronze medallist over 20 km at the 2012 London Olympics and the gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In 2011, the foremost athletics event was the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu. The other major global level competition held in 2011 was the World Cross Country Championships.
Bulgaria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. It was the nation's nineteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, having missed the Olympics on three occasions, including the 1948 Summer Olympics in London due to the nation's role in World War II and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of the Soviet boycott. Despite this being London's third Olympic Games, this was the first time a Bulgarian team appeared at a London Olympics. The Bulgarian Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games, tying the record with Helsinki in 1952, and with Tokyo in 1964. A total of 63 athletes, 36 men and 27 women, competed in 16 sports. Men's volleyball was the only team event in which Bulgaria was represented in these Olympic games. There was only a single competitor in badminton, sprint canoeing, fencing, and judo.
Latvia competed at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics from August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, South Korea.
Eduar Antonio Villanueva is a Venezuelan middle-distance runner. He represented his country at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics and has participated in the World Championships in Athletics on three consecutive occasions. In 2011 he had the best ever performance by a Venezuelan runner at the World Championships, coming eighth in the 1500 metres. He set a Venezuelan record of 3:36.96 minutes in the semi-final.
Andy González Núñez is a Cuban middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. He was the gold medalist in the event at the 2011 Pan American Games. He represented his country at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Mauritania competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which was held from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The country's participation at London marked its eighth appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1984 Summer Olympics. The delegation included two track and field athletes, Jidou El Moctar and Aicha Fall, who were selected to the team by wildcard places, as the nation had no athletes that met either the "A" or "B" qualifying standards. Moctar was selected as flag bearer for the opening ceremony while a LOCOG Games Maker carried it for the closing ceremony. Neither of the two athletes progressed beyond the heats.
Taoufik Makhloufi is an Algerian athlete who specialises in middle-distance running. He became the 1500 metres Olympic champion at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. In 2016, Makhloufi took the silver medal in the 800m and 1500 m at the Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil.
Meskerem Assefa Legesse Wondimagegn is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. She represented Ethiopia at the 2008 and 2012 London Olympics. She has personal bests including 4:02.12 minutes for the 1500 metres, 8:46.37 minutes for the 3000 metres and 2:25:11 hours for the marathon.
Eunice Jepkoech Sum is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She was the 2013 World champion and won the bronze medal in 2015. Sum took a silver and a gold at the 2012 and 2014 African Championships in Athletics respectively. She was also 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and a three-time successive Diamond League winner in 2013–15.
Jeon Yeong-Eun is a South Korean race walker. She competed in the 20 km kilometres event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics. She also competed in the Women's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China, as well as the same event at the 2011 World Championships on home soil in Daegu, and the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
The 4 × 400 metres relay at the Summer Olympics is the longest track relay event held at the multi-sport event. The men's relay has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1912 and the women's event has been continuously held since the 1972 Olympics. The inaugural mixed 4 × 400 metres relay was held at the 2020 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 4×400 m relay race at the elite level. At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a precursor to this event was held – the 1600 m medley relay. This event, with two legs of 200 m, one of 400 m, and a final leg of 800 m, was the first track relay in Olympic history.
Nicaragua 
