Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name 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.
Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World Champion, the world record holder in the event, and is widely considered the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time. Isinbayeva was banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics after revelations of an extensive state-sponsored doping program in Russia, thus dashing her hopes of a grand retirement after winning the Olympic gold medal. She retired from athletics in August 2016 after being elected to serve an 8-year term on the IOC's Athletes' Commission.
Ivan Ryhoravich Tsikhan is a Belarusian hammer thrower. He is a two-time world champion and an Olympic medalist.
Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IAAF Continental Cup winner. She has a personal best throw of 21.24 metres outdoors and 20.98 m indoors. These marks are Oceanian, Commonwealth and New Zealand national records. She also holds the Oceanian junior record (18.93 m) and the Oceanian youth record (17.54 m), as well as the World Championships record, World Indoor Championships record and Commonwealth Games record.
Andrei Anatolyevich Mikhnevich is a Belarusian shot putter with a personal best of 21.69 metres, set in 2003. In 2013 he was banned from sports for life due to his second doping positive.
Mikuláš Konopka is a retired Slovak shot putter.
Tetiana Hryhorivna Petlyuk or Tetiana Hryhorivna Petliuk is a Ukrainian runner who specializes in the 800 metres. Her personal best time is 1:57.34 minutes, achieved in June 2006 in Kyiv. She has an indoor best of 1:58.67 minutes, set in 2007.
Tomasz Majewski is a Polish shot putter and a double Olympic gold medalist. He is the third shot putter to successfully defend the Olympic title, first European to do so, and the first since Parry O'Brien in 1956.
Burger Lambrechts is a South African shot putter.
Víctor Manuel Castillo Petit is a Venezuelan track and field athlete who specialises in the long jump. His personal best jump is 8.34 metres, a Venezuelan record achieved in May 2004 in Cochabamba.
Dylan Armstrong is a Canadian shot putter. He is a two-time Pan American Games champion, a former Commonwealth Games champion and has also won world championship silver and bronze medals. He was awarded the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics seven years after the event in 2015, following a doping disqualification by competitor Andrei Mikhnevich. Armstrong holds the Canadian national record and the Pan American Games record for shot put, and is a former holder of the Commonwealth games record. With his world championship medal, Armstrong was the first Canadian to reach the podium in a throwing event in a major global competition.
Taavi Peetre was an Estonian shot putter and discus thrower. He represented his country at two Olympic Games and also took part in the World Championships in Athletics on two occasions. His personal best shot put mark of 20.33 m was then the second best after an Estonian record holder Heino Sild. His personal best in discus throw was 60.84 m, achieved in April 2010 in Denton, Texas, USA. He died in 2010 after a boat accident.
Germán Luján Lauro is an Argentine shot putter and discus thrower. He is the South American record holder in the shot put both indoors and outdoors with marks of 21.04 m and 21.26 m, respectively. His personal best in the discus is 63.55 metres.
Michalis Stamatogiannis is a Greek shot putter.
Zalina Marghieva is a female hammer thrower who competes for Moldova. Born in Russia, she is the sister of Marina Marghiev and Serghei Marghiev, and is coached by her father Soslan.
David Storl is a German track and field athlete who specialises in the shot put. He was successful on the youth and junior athletics circuit, winning gold medals at the World Youth Championships and World Junior Championships. Storl won his first senior medal, a silver, at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
In 2010 there was no obvious, primary athletics championship, as neither the Summer Olympics nor the World Championships in Athletics occurred in the year. The foremost championships to be held in 2010 included: the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2010 European Athletics Championships, 2010 African Championships in Athletics, and Athletics at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The men's hammer throw competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3–5 August. There were 41 competitors from 32 nations. The event was won by Krisztián Pars of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the men's hammer throw since 1996 and fifth overall. Primož Kozmus of Slovenia, the 2008 winner, took silver. Koji Murofushi of Japan, the 2004 winner, took bronze. Kozmus and Murofoshi were the 12th and 13th men to earn multiple medals in the hammer throw.
Ryan Keith Whiting is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and has a personal record of 22.28 meters outdoors and 22.35 meters indoors. His biggest international senior success to date is first place at the 2012 World Indoor Championships. He represented the United States at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, 2013 World Championships in Athletics, 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2012 London Olympics.
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