History
Athletics was introduced shortly after the foundation of the club. The global impetus created by the establishment of the modern Olympic Games, which began in 1896, led to rapid development of athletics in Portugal. Since then, Sporting CP has established itself as one of the dominant forces in Portuguese athletics, with athletes such as António Stromp and Salazar Carreira standing out.
António Stromp, brother of Francisco Stromp became the club's first Olympic athlete when he participated in the 1912 Summer Olympics, where he competed in the sprint events, achieving two third places in the 100 meters and in the 200 meters heats.
When the first women's athletics competitions were held in Portugal in 1937, Sporting CP was also a pioneer with its active participation.
By the mid-20th century, Sporting CP had become a dominant presence in national championships, consistently producing leading athletes across multiple disciplines. Mário Moniz Pereira was the central figure in the development of the club's athletics department and, equally, of Portuguese athletics in the 20th century. A great promoter of this sport, he created a training school based on discipline, scientific training planning and close monitoring of athletes. His vision transformed the club into a national and international powerhouse, establishing a culture of high standards and excellence that marked several generations. As a coach, he was instrumental in the international projection of athletes who became National, European, World and Olympic champions. His impact was so significant that he earned the nickname Senhor Atletismo.
It was precisely during the period when Mário Moniz Pereira took over as the club's coach for the first time that Sporting CP and Portugal reached their peak in athletics. In the men's sector, at the end of the 1960s, two athletes emerged who definitively marked this era: Carlos Lopes and Fernando Mamede.
Carlos Lopes was the first Portuguese athlete to become world champion, winning the 1977 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, and to win an Olympic Silver Medal, achieved in the 10,000 meters at the 1976 Summer Olympics. However, his greatest victory was when he became the first Portuguese to win an Olympic Gold Medal, winning the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics with a new Olympic Record of 2:09:21, which was only beaten at the 2008 Summer Olympics, at the age of 37, making him the oldest athlete ever to win the Olympic Marathon. [3] This victory had such a global impact that the athlete, together with the then president of Sporting CP, João Rocha, visited the White House upon invitation from the former President of the United States Ronald Reagan, and appeared in New Kids on the Blecch, the fourteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American television series The Simpsons, in 2001.
Fernando Mamede became the first athlete from the club to hold a European Record and a World Record, both in the 10,000 meters. In 1981, at the Lisbon International Tournament, held at the Estádio José Alvalade, he set the European record with a time of 27:27.7 minutes and, three years later, at the 1984 Stockholm Meeting, he set a new world record with a time of 27:13.81 minutes.
In 1977, Sporting CP wins the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country, its first athletics international title.
Established in 2011, the club organizes its annual running race, named Corrida Sporting [4]
In 2022, in collaboration with the Lisbon Athletic Association, the club created the Prof. Mário Moniz Pereira Meeting, held on a short track. It began at the Lisbon University Stadium, but since 2025 it has been held at Expocentro, an indoor track in Pombal, consolidating itself as the 4th stage of the Portuguese Circuit of Meetings, with category Challenger of the World Athletics Continental Tour, attracting international athletes [5]
