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.
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, covering track and field, cross country running, road running, race walking, mountain running, and ultra running. Included in its charge is the standardization of rules and regulations for the sports, certification of athletic facilities, recognition and management of world records, and the organisation and sanctioning of athletics competitions, including the World Athletics Championships. The organisation's president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom, who was elected to the four-year position in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 for a second four-year term, and then again in 2023 for a third four-year term.
Athletics is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running and racewalking. In British English the term athletics is synonymous with American track and field and includes all jumping events. Outside of Canada and the United States, athletics is the official term for this sport with 'track' and 'field' events being subgroups of athletics events.
Stephen Cram, is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arrow", after his home town, Cram set world records in the 1,500 m, 2,000 m, and the mile during a 19-day period in the summer of 1985. He was the first man to run 1,500 m under 3 minutes and 30 seconds. He won the 1,500 m gold medal at the 1983 World Championships and the 1,500 m silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games.
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe,, often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984. He set nine outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in the space of 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800 metres in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997. Coe's rivalries with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s.
Stephen Michael James Ovett, is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Ovett set five world records for 1500 metres and the mile run, and a world record at two miles. He won 45 consecutive 1500 and mile races from 1977 to 1980.
The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, sometimes given in gold bars, which inspired the series name. The competition began with seven meetings and it lasted for twelve years as the IAAF's top tier of one-day meetings. Within the IAAF's global circuit, athletes received additional points for their performances at the Golden League for the IAAF Grand Prix (1998–2002), IAAF World Outdoor Meetings (2003–2005), then IAAF World Athletics Tour (2006–2009). The Golden League was replaced in 2010 by the Diamond League, which marked an expansion to fourteen seasonal meetings covering all track and field events except the hammer throw.
The world record in the mile run is the fastest time set by a runner in the middle-distance track and field event. World Athletics is the official body which oversees the records. Hicham El Guerrouj is the current men's record holder with his time of 3:43.13, while Faith Kipyegon has the women's record of 4:07.64. Since 1976, the mile has been the only non-metric distance recognized by the IAAF for record purposes. However, in international competitions such as the Olympics the term "mile" almost always refers to a distance of 1,500 meters, which is 109.344 meters shorter than an Imperial mile, even though four "full" laps of a 400 meter track is equal to 1,600 meters.
The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the IAAF World Athletics Series and was the seasonal culmination of the IAAF World Outdoor Meetings series from 2003 to 2005, then the IAAF World Athletics Tour from 2006 to 2009. Due to changes in the one-day meeting system introduced by the IAAF, the World Athletics Final was discontinued after the 2009 season.
A pacemaker or pacesetter, sometimes informally called a rabbit, is a runner who leads a middle- or long-distance running event for the first section to ensure a high speed and to avoid excessive tactical racing. Pacemakers are frequently employed by race organisers for world record attempts with specific instructions for lap times. Some athletes have essentially become professional pacemakers. A competitor who chooses the tactic of leading in order to win is called a front-runner rather than a pacemaker.
The athletics competition at the 2010 Commonwealth Games was held in New Delhi, India between 6 and 14 October. The track and field events took place between 6–12 October at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium while the marathon contests were held on a street course running through the city on 14 October.
The IAAF Grand Prix was an annual, global circuit of one-day outdoor track and field competitions organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was created in 1985 as the IAAF's first seasonal track and field circuit and lasted until 2009. Athletes scored points based on their performances on the circuit and the top athletes were invited to the annual IAAF Grand Prix Final.
The IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge was an annual hammer throw series, organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 2010 until the end of 2019 season. The series of hammer throw competitions for men and women were primary held at meetings with IAAF World Challenge status. The rankings were decided by combining the total of each athlete's three greatest throws at the permit events during the season. Further points could be gained by those who broke or equalled the world record mark for the event.
Iulia Olteanu is a Romanian former long-distance runner who competed in cross country, track and road running events.
The 1998 IAAF Golden League was the first edition of the annual international track and field meeting series, held from 9 July to 5 September. It was contested at six European meetings: the Bislett Games, Golden Gala, Herculis, Weltklasse Zürich, Memorial Van Damme and the Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF). The series tied in with the 1998 IAAF Grand Prix Final, with the jackpot of US$1,000,000 being decided at that competition. The million-dollar prize represented the single largest prize pot ever in athletics at that point.
Margaret Ngotho is a Kenyan former long-distance runner who competed in cross-country running and track events. Her highest achievement was a bronze medal in the short race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 2000. She was three times a team medalist at the competition for Kenya, winning gold in 1991 and 1995 then finally silver in 2001.
The track and field competition at the 2015 Military World Games was held from 4–11 October 2015 at the KAFAC Sports Complex in Mungyeong. The stadium is named after the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps. The marathon races took place on 11 October and followed a route around the city with a finish point at the track and field main stadium. A number of para-athletics exhibition events were added to the programme for the first time, covering men's and women's shot put, and track races over 100 m, 200 m, and 1500 m for men.
The 1980 UK Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for the United Kingdom held at Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium, London. Three events were contested separately at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh – the women's 1500 metres and men's 800 metres and 5000 metres. This set of events served as the British Olympic Team Trials for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Two new events were contested for the first time: a men's 10,000 metres track walk and a women's 5000 metres track walk.
The Golden Four was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings in Europe, which lasted from 1993 to 1997. The four meetings that comprised the series were the Bislett Games (Oslo), Weltklasse Zürich (Zürich), Memorial Van Damme (Brussels), and Internationales Stadionfest (Berlin). The name of the series derived from the number of meets and the series prize of 20 kg of gold, to be shared among the athletes who won their event at all four of the meets. The Berlin leg served as the series final. Marketing for the series was managed by UFA GmbH.
