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. In British English the term "Athletics" is synonymous with American "Track and Field" and includes all jumping events.
Rashid Ramzi is a Moroccan-Bahraini track and field athlete competing internationally for Bahrain in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. Ramzi was investigated by the IAAF after the 2008 Summer Olympics and was stripped of his gold medal for doping.
James Beckford is a Jamaican track and field athlete competing in the long jump. He represented Jamaica at the Olympic level in 1996, 2000 and 2004. He was the silver medallist in the long jump at the 1996 Olympics and also has two silvers from the World Championships in Athletics. He was chosen as the Jamaica Sportsman of the Year for 1995, 1996 and 2003. He is the current holder of the Jamaican record for the triple jump with a mark of 17.92 m, and was also the holder of the long jump record at 8.62m until 28 September. 2019 when it was replaced with a mark of 8.69 m by Tajay Gayle at the World Championships in Athletics in Doha, Qatar.
Godfrey Khotso Mokoena OIB is a South African athlete who specializes in the long jump and triple jump.
Amine Laâlou is a Moroccan track and field athlete, who specializes in middle-distance running. He has represented his country at the Summer Olympics on two occasions; in 2004 and 2008. He began his career as an 800 metres specialist and made his global debut at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. He won medals at smaller international competitions, including the 2004 Pan Arab Games and 2005 Mediterranean Games. He reached his first global final at the 2007 World Championships, taking sixth, and was a semi-finalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialized in long jump and sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medallist in the long jump and a world medalist in the 200 metres. Okagbare also holds the women's 100 metres Commonwealth Games record at 10.85 seconds. She is currently serving a 10-year ban for breaching multiple World Athletics anti-doping rules. Her ban expires on 30 July 2032.
The men's long jump at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 16 and 18 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium. Thirty-eight athletes from 32 nations competed. The event was won by Irving Saladino of Panama, the nation's first Olympic gold medal in any event and its first medal the men's long jump. South Africa also won its first men's long jump medal, with Khotso Mokoena's silver. Ibrahim Camejo's bronze was Cuba's first medal in the event since 2000. This event marked the first time that an American did not classify to the final phase in a non-boycotted Olympic competition.
Yahya Berrabah is a Moroccan long jumper. He is a five-time participant at the World Championships in Athletics (2003–2011) and has twice represented his country at the Olympic Games. He was the 2008 African Champion in the long jump. His personal best of 8.40 metres is the Moroccan national record.
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 athletics competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held during the last 10 days of the Games, on 3–12 August. Track and field events took place at the Olympic Stadium in east London. The road events, however, started and finished on The Mall in central London.
Lucimara Silvestre da Silva is a Brazilian track and field athlete who competes in the heptathlon. She represented her country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and competed at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007. Her personal best of 6076 points is the South American record for the event.
Henry Frayne is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in triple jump and long jump. He qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and finished 14th in qualifying with a distance of 7.93m, and did not qualify for the final.
Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12 to 21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics was made into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
Jeffrey Henderson is an American track and field athlete who competes in the long jump and 100-meter dash. He has a personal record of 8.52 m for the long jump by winning the 2015 Pan Am Games gold medal. At the long jump at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Henderson captured gold for Team USA, its first in the event since 2004. Henderson added a silver medal at the 2019 outdoor world championships. Other top results include becoming the 2014, 2016 and 2018 USA Outdoor national long jump champion.
The 100 metres at the Summer Olympics has been contested since the first edition of the multi-sport event. The men's 100 metres has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. The 100 metres is considered one of the blue ribbon events of the Olympics and is among the highest profile competitions at the games. It is the most prestigious 100 metres race at an elite level and is the shortest sprinting competition at the Olympics – a position it has held at every edition except for a brief period between 1900 and 1904, when a men's 60 metres was contested.
Ruswahl Samaai is a South African track and field athlete who competes in the long jump. He was the bronze medallist in the event at the 2014 and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In 2017 he won the bronze medal in the long jump event at the World Championships held in London.
The men's long jump competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Olympic Stadium between 12 and 13 August. Thirty-two athletes from 23 nations competed. The event was won by Jeff Henderson of the United States, the nation's first gold medal in the event since 2004 and 22nd overall. Luvo Manyonga won South Africa's second silver medal in the men's long jump. Defending champion Greg Rutherford of Great Britain took bronze, becoming the tenth man to win a second medal in the event.
The 5000 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by men since the inaugural edition in 1983 and by women since 1995. Women competed over 3000 metres from 1980 to 1993, in line with championship standards of the time. It is the shortest long-distance running event at the competition, the 10,000 metres and marathon being the other two such events on the programme. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 5000 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has a two-race heats stage that leads directly to a final between fifteen athletes.
Hugues Fabrice Zango is a Burkinabé athlete who specialises in the triple jump and the long jump. He is the world indoor record holder in the triple jump with a jump of 18.07 m set in 2021 and the reigning world champion, winning the gold medal in the triple jump at the 2023 World Championships. Zango competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and won the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, in the triple jump event, the first ever Olympic medal for Burkina Faso. He has also competed in World Championships, two African athletics championships, a Jeux de la Francophonie, two Summer Universiades and two African Games. He became the first-ever Olympic medalist for Burkina Faso earning a bronze medal and set the African triple jump record at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
Tajay Gayle is a Jamaican long jumper and the 2019 World Champion.
