Manuel "Manolo" Martínez Gutiérrez is a retired Spanish shot putter. Nicknamed the "Gentle Giant", his personal best throw outdoors is 21.47 metres and he has an indoor best of 21.26 m. These marks are the Spanish national records for the event. His international career lasted from 1992 to 2011 and he earned national selection on 84 occasions – the most by any Spanish athlete.
Maurice Smith is a decathlete from Jamaica. He competed for Auburn University. He represented his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, finishing in 14th place. He broke the Pan American Games decathlon record in 2007, winning his first international gold medal. He won the silver medal in the decathlon at the 2007 World Championships. Smith is the current national record holder in the men's decathlon, with 8644 points.
Yunior Díaz Zayas is a Cuban track and field athlete who specialises in the decathlon and long jump. He represented Cuba at the 2008 Summer Olympics and also at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. He won the silver medal at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics.
Larbi Bourrada is an Algerian decathlon athlete. He is the four-time African champion and the African record holder in the event. He has also competed in the pole vault, winning the All-Africa Games title in 2011 and two silver medals at the African Championships. In 2012 his doping sample at a competition came back positive for the banned steroid Stanozolol, and he was given a two-year ban from athletics.
Lee Yeon-Kyung is a South Korean track and field athlete who competes in the 100 metres hurdles.
Yuki Ebihara is a Japanese track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw.
Michael "Mike" Franks is a former American track and field athlete who competed in the 400-meter dash.
Hiromasa Tanaka is a Japanese decathlete. He won five straight national decathlon titles from 2004 to 2008 and was the gold medallist in the event at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships. He also represented Japan at the 2007 World Championships.
Lennart Per-Olav Hedmark is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the decathlon. He represented his country at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics with the best result of eighth place in 1976.
Wachara Sondee is a Thai track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events. He primarily competes in the 100 metres and 60 metres and is the Thai national record holder for the shorter distance with his best of 6.65 seconds.
Yevgeniy Ektov is a Kazakhstani track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump. He represented his country at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the World Championships in Athletics in 2009 and 2011. He was the triple jump gold medallist at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships and was runner-up at the 2010 Asian Games. Ektov has also won medals at the Asian Indoor Games and Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. His personal best for the event was 17.07 metres, set in 2008, improved to 17.22, set in 2012. He is married to Irina Ektova.
Su Xiongfeng is a Chinese track and field athlete who competes in the long jump. He became the Asian champion at the 2011 Asian Championships and was the silver medallist at the 2010 Asian Games. His personal best jump of 8.27 metres is the Asian indoor record.
Kazakhstan competed at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics from August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, South Korea.
Ahmad Hassan Moussa is a Qatari decathlete. He represented his country at the 2004 Summer Olympics and is a two time Asian Champion in the event.
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.
Ali Kamé is a Malagasy track and field athlete who competes in the decathlon. He won the gold medal at the 2012 African Championships in Athletics and was a bronze medallist at the 2011 All-Africa Games. His personal best of 7685 points is the Malagasy record and he is a three-time winner of the African Combined Events Championships.
Dmitriy Sergeyev Tarabin is a Russian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best for the event is 88.84 m. He was the winner of the javelin at Summer Universiade and the Russian Championships in 2013. Tarabin previously competed for Moldova and remains the country's national record holder.
Maho Hanaoka is a Japanese former track and field athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and triple jump. She is one of Japan's best female athletes in the horizontal jumps: she holds the Japanese records for the triple jump outdoors with 14.04 m and is also the record holder in both the long and triple jump indoors. Her long jump best of 6.82 m is a former Japanese record, second to Kumiko Ikeda.
Shigeyuki Aikyo is a Japanese former track and field athlete who specialised in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He was the gold medallist at the 1986 Asian Games and the 1985 Asian Athletics Championships. He was also a two-time Universiade bronze medallist and a two-time national champion.
In 2016, the foremost athletics events will be staged at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The two other major global level competitions in 2016 are the World Indoor Championships and World Half Marathon Championships.
