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.
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad and commonly known as Rome 1960, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awarded the administration of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, the city had no choice but to decline and pass the honour to London. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals at the 1960 Games.
The World Athletics Championships are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics. Alongside the Olympic Games, they represent the highest level championships of senior international outdoor athletics competition for track and field athletics globally, including marathon running and race walking. Separate World Championships are held by World Athletics for certain other outdoor events, including cross-country running and half-marathon, as well as indoor and age-group championships.
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in 47 disciplines. During the Games, 95 new Pan American records were set; 2,196 medals were awarded; 1,262 doping control tests were performed and about 15,000 volunteers participated in the organization of the event, which served as an Olympic qualification occasion for 13 International Federations (IFs).
The 2010 Asian Para Games, also known as the First Asian Para Games, was a parallel sport event for Asian athletes with a disability held in Guangzhou, China. Two weeks after the conclusion of the 16th Asian Games, It opened on December 12 and closed on December 19, 2010.
Track and field is one of the sports at the quadrennial Military World Games competition. Track and field competitions have been held at every one of the eleven editions of the Military World Games, which was inaugurated in 1995.
At the 2003 Military World Games, the track and field events were held at the Stadio Angelo Massimino in Catania, Italy, from 6 – 8 December 2003. The marathon races were held outside of the stadium, taking place in neighbouring Palermo. A total of 35 events were contested, of which 22 by male and 13 by female athletes.
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.
The track and field competition at the 2011 Military World Games was held from 17–23 July 2011 at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio de Janeiro. The programme contained 35 athletics events, 20 for men and 15 for women. The marathon races took place on 17 July while the track and field events were held in the stadium from 19–23 July.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
The marathon at the Summer Olympics is the only road running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first modern Olympics in 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women's event was added to the programme at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
At the 1999 Military World Games, the track and field events were held at the Sportski Park Mladost athletic stadium in Zagreb, Croatia from 11–16 August. A total of 32 events were contested, of which 22 by male and 10 by female athletes. The marathon events were held on 11 August, prior to the track and field competition. It was the last time that the men's 20 kilometres walk and women's shot put featured on the programme. The women's 1500 metres and 5000 metres were added to the programme for the first time. Nations could enter a maximum of two athletes into each event.
The track and field competition at the 2015 Military World Games was held from 4–11 October 2015 at the KAFAC Sports Complex in Mungyeong. The stadium is named after the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps. The marathon races took place on 11 October and followed a route around the city with a finish point at the track and field main stadium. A number of para-athletics exhibition events were added to the programme for the first time, covering men's and women's shot put, and track races over 100 m, 200 m, and 1500 m for men.
Anandan Gunasekaran is an Indian track and field para-athletics runner who competes in the men's 100m, 200m and 400m events in the T64 category. He has participated at many international events. In 2018, he represented India at the Asian Para Games 2018 which was held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 6 to 13 October 2018 and won silver in the 400 meters and bronze in the 200 meters. He is the first athlete in the country to have won 3 gold medals in the Military World Games 2019 held in Wuhan, China, first Asian blade runner to create a new Asian record of completing 400m race in 52.66s at the 2018 National Open Para-Athletic Championship.
Japan competed as the host nation of the 2020 Summer Paralympics in their capital Tokyo from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
The 2019 Military World Games, officially known as the 7th CISM Military World Games, and commonly known as Wuhan 2019, was held from October 18–27, 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei, China.
China competed as hosts at the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan from 18 to 27 October 2019. This was the nation's 7th successive appearance at the Military World Games. China sent a delegation consisting of 553 athletes for the games, which was also the highest number of athletes sent by a nation at the Military World Games. Volleyball player Yuan Xinyue was the flagbearer during the opening ceremony. China finished the event with 239 medals and topped the medal table.
Orienteering at the 2019 Military World Games was held in Wuhan, China from 19 to 23 October 2019.
Li Dan is a Chinese long-distance runner. In 2019, she competed in the women's marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar. She did not finish her race.
Athletics was one of the core sports that was held at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. As a founding sport, athletics had appeared consistently since its introduction at the 1911 Inter-Empire Games, the recognized precursor to the Commonwealth Games.
