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.
Evelyn Ashford is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash, and the world record-holder in the 60-yard dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was the first to run under 11 seconds in an Olympic Games. Ashford has the distinction of owning the longest unbroken athletics record.
Ulrike Nasse-Meyfarth is a German former high jumper. She won the Olympic title twice, in 1972 and 1984. She is the youngest Olympic champion ever in women's high jump, and at the time of her 1984 triumph, she also was the oldest ever.
Marta Domínguez Azpeleta is a Spanish former runner and politician. She competes mainly in the steeplechase. She has represented Spain four times at the Olympics and has competed at the World Championships on six occasions.
Annarita Sidoti was an Italian race walker.
Olga Nikolayevna Kaniskina is a Russian coach and former race walker. She won the silver medal in the 20 km walk at the 2006 European Championships, the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships, and the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She also won the 20 km walk at the 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, setting a Championship record of 1:25:42. She was disqualified from several years of competition due to doping.
Grażyna Józefa Rabsztyn is a retired Polish hurdler. She represented her country at the Summer Olympics on three occasions (1972–1980) and was a finalist each time.
Irina Mikitenko, néeVolynskaya, is a retired German long-distance runner who competed in marathons. She won the Berlin Marathon in 2008 and is a two-time winner of the London Marathon. She has competed at the Summer Olympics on four occasions.
Lucia Hrivnák Klocová is a Slovak middle distance athlete, who specialises in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. She represented Slovakia at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. She has also reached the semi-finals of the World Championships in Athletics on five occasions.
Liu Hong is a Chinese race walker. She is the world record holder over the Olympic 20 km distance with a time of 1:24:38 hours, set in 2015.
Mayumi Kita is a Japanese race walker from Ibaraki Prefecture. She represented her country in the 20 km race walk at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Her personal best time for the 20 km race walk is 1:28:49 hours.
Melanie Skotnik is a French-German high jumper. She holds both German and French citizenship through her parentage and represented Germany until 2004. She retired in June 2016.
Ariane Friedrich is a German high jumper. She won the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships and represented Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the German outdoor record holder in the event with a best of 2.06 m, although this is 1 cm less than the indoor record held by Heike Henkel.
Claire Woods, also known as Claire Tallent, is an Australian racewalker.
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.
Lisa Jane Weightman is an Australian long distance runner and four time Olympian who specializes in the marathon event. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics she came 26th in the Women's marathon with a time of 2:34.19, 7 minutes behind the eventual winner, Peres Jepchirchir.
Zuzana Schindlerová is Czech athlete, whose specialization is race walking. She was born in Baška, Czechoslovakia.
Alessandra Aguilar Morán is a Spanish long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. She represented her country in the event at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the World Championships in Athletics the following year and then at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the World Championships following that.
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.
Despina Zapounidou is a Greek race walker. She competed in the 20 kilometres event at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She holds two Greek records: 1:37:40.59 hours for the 20,000 m track walk and 12:35.16 minutes for the 3000 m indoor walk.
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