Turkey competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. Turkish athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games since its debut in 1908. Turkey did not attend the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles at the period of worldwide Great Depression, and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of its support for the United States boycott. The Turkish Olympic Committee sent the nation's largest delegation to the Games. A total of 65 athletes, 45 men and 20 women, competed in 10 sports. There was only a single competitor in shooting and taekwondo.
Belarus competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's fifth appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era. The Belarus Olympic Committee sent a total of 151 athletes to the Games, 82 men and 69 women, to compete in 22 sports.
Lauryn Williams is an American sprinter and bobsledder. She was the gold medalist in the 100 meter dash at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2007 World Championships, and 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. She won a silver medal in the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race. Each runner carries a relay baton. Before 2018, the baton had to be passed within a 20 m changeover box, preceded by a 10-metre acceleration zone. With a rule change effective November 1, 2017, that zone was modified to include the acceleration zone as part of the passing zone, making the entire zone 30 metres in length. The outgoing runner cannot touch the baton until it has entered the zone, and the incoming runner cannot touch it after it has left the zone. The zone is usually marked in yellow, frequently using lines, triangles or chevrons. While the rule book specifies the exact positioning of the marks, the colours and style are only "recommended". While most legacy tracks will still have the older markings, the rule change still uses existing marks. Not all governing body jurisdictions have adopted the rule change.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, represented by the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia competed in all sports except baseball, field hockey, football, softball, and taekwondo. They ranked third in the medal table by golds (24) and overall (60). Russia also had 14 medals stripped for doping violations, the most of any nation at the 2008 Olympics.
The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, Track & Field News became the leader in creating and defining abbreviations in this field. These abbreviations have also been adopted by, among others, World Athletics; the world governing body, various domestic governing bodies, the Association of Track and Field Statisticians, the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the Associated Press, and the individual media outlets who receive their reports. These abbreviations also appear in Wikipedia.
The 4×100 metres relay at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 4×100 metres relay at the Olympics. The competition format typically has one qualifying round leading to a final between eight teams. As of 2015, nations can qualify for the competition through a top eight finish at the previous IAAF World Relays event, with the remaining teams coming through the more traditional route of ranking highly on time in the seasonal lists. This system was modified due to the postponement of 2023 World Athletics Relays to 2024: therefore, the eight teams directly qualified are those of the 2022 World Championships, in Eugene, completed by eight more 2022-2023 top lists' teams.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London, from 4–13 August 2017. It was the first time that the United Kingdom had hosted the World Championships. Mo Farah won the first medal for the host nation, also winning the first gold medal of the Championships.
The United States competed in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019. The team included 313 men and 327 women.
The men's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 5 and 6 August 2021 at the Olympic Stadium. There were 16 competing relay teams, with each team having 5 members from which 4 were selected in each round.
Canada is scheduled to compete at the 2022 World Championships in Athletics in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15−24, 2022.
Switzerland will compete at the 2022 European Championships in Munich from 11 to 22 August 2022.
Switzerland competed at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, United States, from 15 to 24 July 2022. The Swiss Athletics Federation entered 26 athletes.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany, between 15 and 21 August 2022
India competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from 19 to 27 August 2023.
France competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from 19 to 27 August 2023.
Canada competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19–27, 2023. With four gold and two silver medals, the nation ranked second on the medal table, its best-ever result at the World Athletics Championships, though its total medal count (six) did not exceed the eight won at the 2015 edition.
Spain competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from 19 to 27 August 2023.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from 19 to 27 August 2023.
