A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of All-Time. She is on the board of directors for USA Track & Field (U.S.A.T.F.), the national governing body of the sport.
Derrick Ralph Adkins is a former American track and field athlete who specialized in the 400-meter hurdles. He was an Olympic gold medalist in that event at the 1996 Summer Olympics and World Champion at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. He was the fastest man in the world in the 1994 and 1996 seasons, and holds a personal record of 47.54 seconds. Adkins was a two-time national champion at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
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.
John Bryan Bronson is an American 400-meter hurdler, who won the bronze medal at the 1997 World Championships in Athens. He also represented his country at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He won three consecutive titles at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from 1996 to 1998.
These are the official results of the Women's Heptathlon competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There were a total number of 32 entrants, with three non-starters. The competition was held on September 23, 1988, and September 24, 1988.
Dawn C. Burrell is an American chef and retired long jumper. She won the gold medal at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships and represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In her culinary career, she was a semifinalist in 2020 for a James Beard Foundation Award. Burrell is the younger sister of former 100 m world record holder Leroy Burrell.
The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. The Games were a response to the Olympic boycotts of the period, which saw the United States refuse to attend the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and the Soviet Union refusing to attend the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The Soviet athletes dominated the competition, winning 118 gold medals and 241 medals overall. The United States finished second place, with 42 golds and 142 medals in total.
At the 2001 East Asian Games, the athletics events were held in Osaka, Japan from 23 to 26 May 2001. A total of 45 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 22 by female athletes. All events were held at the Nagai Stadium, with the exception of the racewalking and half marathon events. A team of Australian athletes took part in the competition but they were excluded from the medal tally. This was the last time that Kazakhstan competed in the competition.
Darrell Robinson is an American former track and field athlete who specialized in the 400-meter dash. He set a US high school national record of 44.69 seconds in the 400 m at the age of 18. He was in the world's top-five 400 m runners in 1985 and 1986. He won a bronze medal at the 1986 Goodwill Games, and won races at numerous high-profile track meetings.
At the 1986 Goodwill Games, the athletics competition was held in July 1986 at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union. A total of 42 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 19 by female athletes.
At the 1990 Goodwill Games, the athletics events were held in Seattle, Washington, United States between July 22 and 26, 1990. A total of 43 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 20 by female athletes. Athletes from the United States and the Soviet Union dominated the competition as they had done in the inaugural edition, with United States coming out on top this time with 54 medal won, 20 of them gold. The Soviet Union was a clear second place with 14 golds and 43 medals in total. The Greater Antillean island nations of Cuba and Jamaica had the third- and fourth-greatest medal hauls, respectively.
At the 1994 Goodwill Games, the athletics events were held in July at the Petrovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia. A total of 44 events were contested, of which 22 were by male and 22 by female athletes. The marathon event was dropped for the 1994 edition and racewalking events took place on the track, making the entire athletics programme a track and field-only affair. The United States won the most gold medals (18) in the athletics competition, but Russia had the greatest total medal haul, winning 41 medals, 10 of which were gold. Cuba, Great Britain and Kenya were the next best achievers in the medal count.
At the 2004 Pan Arab Games, the athletics events were held at the Stade 5 Juillet 1962 in Algiers, Algeria from 4 to 8 October. A total of 45 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 22 by female athletes. The host country topped the medal table having won a 16 gold medals and 34 medals overall. Second placed Morocco, with seven golds, had the greatest number of medals overall with a total of 35. Tunisia was third with sixteen medals in total, seven of which were gold. Eleven new Games records were set over the course of the five-day competition.
Ryann Krais is an American athlete. She is a gold and bronze medalist from the 2007 World Youth Championships.
Shana L. Williams is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the long jump. She is a two-time Olympian, having competed in her event at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Williams won the silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Maebashi. Her personal best of 7.01 m ranks her as the fifth best American in the long jump on the all-time lists. She is a two-time USA Indoor champion and also won the gold medal at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
Wassana Winatho, also known as Amornrat Winatho and Vassanee Vinatho, is a Thai track and field athlete who specialises in the heptathlon and the 400 metres hurdles. She represented Thailand at the 2008 Summer Olympics and competed at five consecutive editions of the Asian Games.
Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.
Anna Mikhaylovna Knoroz is a retired Russian hurdler who specialised in the 400 metres hurdles. She won a bronze medal in the 400 m hurdles at the 1994 European Championships, and a gold medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 1991 World Championships. She also competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
