Introduction
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 results of racing events are decided by finishing position (or time, where measured), while the jumps and throws are won by the athlete that achieves the highest or furthest measurement from a series of attempts. The simplicity of the competitions, and the lack of a need for expensive equipment, makes athletics one of the most common types of sports in the world. Athletics is mostly an individual sport, with the exception of relay races and competitions which combine athletes' performances for a team score, such as cross country.
Organized athletics are traced back to the Ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC. The rules and format of the modern events in athletics were defined in Western Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century, and were then spread to other parts of the world. Most modern top level meetings are held under the auspices of World Athletics, the global governing body for the sport of athletics, or its member continental and national federations. (Full article...)
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Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
The current race walking contests at the Summer Olympics are the 20 kilometres race walk (men and women) and the marathon race walk mixed relay, the latter of which debuted at the 2024 Summer Olympics. The 50 kilometres race walk (men only) was discontinued after the 2020 Summer Olympics. The biennial World Athletics Championships also features both 20 and 50 kilometer events, the 50 km walk for women being contested until 2019. The 50 km race walk was replaced by the 35 kilometres race walk as standard championship discipline in 2022. The IAAF World Race Walking Cup, first held in 1961, is a stand-alone global competition for the discipline and it has 10 kilometres race walks for junior athletes, in addition to the Olympic-standard events. The IAAF World Indoor Championships featured 5000 m and 3000 m race walk variations, but these were discontinued after 1993. Top-level athletics championships and games typically feature 20 km racewalking events. (Full article...)
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Athlete birthdays
1 October:
- Aleksandr Averbukh, Israeli pole vaulter
- Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopian distance runner
- Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Australian sprinter
- Joseph Guillemot, French distance runner
- Moses Kiptanui, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- Ewa Kłobukowska, Polish sprinter
- Lyudmila Kolchanova, Russian long jumper
- Dwight Phillips, American long jumper
- Sheena Tosta, American hurdler
- Grete Waitz, Norwegian sprinter
2 October:
- Mark Crear, American hurdler
- Hrysopiyi Devetzi, Greek triple jumper
- Tilly Fleischer, German javelin thrower
- Frankie Fredericks, Namibian sprinter
- Toivo Loukola, Finnish steeplechase runner
- Linda Stahl, German javelin thrower
3 October:
- Tyler Christopher, Canadian sprinter
- Robbie Grabarz, British high jumper
- Abdon Pamich, Italian race walker
- Viktor Saneyev, Soviet triple jumper
- Ralph Spearow, American pole vaulter
- Janeene Vickers, American hurdler
4 October:
- Thane Baker, American sprinter
- Olga Kuzenkova, Russian hammer thrower
- Charles McGinnis, American pole vaulter and high jumper
- Steve Seymour, American javelin thrower
- Sergey Shubenkov, Russian hurdler
- Jorma Valkama, Finnish long jumper
5 October:
- Rein Aun, Soviet decathlete
- Mike Conley, American long- and triple jumper
- Olga Gyarmati, Hungarian long jumper
- Philippe Houvion, French pole vaulter
- Denis Kapustin, Russian triple jumper
- Nadezhda Konyayeva, Soviet javelin thrower
- Inessa Kravets, Ukrainian long- and triple jumper
- Letitia Vriesde, Surinamese middle-distance runner
6 October:
- Valerie Adams, New Zealand shot putter
- Katrin Dörre-Heinig, German distance runner
- Michael Frater, Jamaican sprinter
- Wilson Boit Kipketer, Kenyan steeplechase runner
- William Petersson, Swedish long jumper
- Bevil Rudd, South African 400/800 runner
- Sunette Viljoen, South African javelin thrower
- Viktor Yevsyukov, Soviet javelin thrower
7 October:
- Valeria Bufanu, Romanian hurdler
- William Droegemueller, American pole vaulter
- Erik Elmsäter, Swedish steeplechase runner
- Daniele Meucci, Italian distance runner
- Sanderlei Parrela, Brazilian sprinter
- Olesya Zykina, Russian sprinter
Related portals
More did you know
- ... that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach?
- ... that Charlie Fonville broke a 14-year-old shot put world record by almost twelve inches at the 1948 Kansas Relays but was not allowed to stay with the other athletes because he was African-American?
- ... that the Peachtree Road Race, held annually on July 4 (U.S. Independence Day) in Atlanta, Georgia, is the world's largest 10 kilometer road race with 55,000 runners participating in 2007?
- ... that Patrick Ivuti's photo finish victory in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, one of the five major marathons, was his first marathon victory?
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Selected biography
The Borlée family is a sporting family consisting of Jacques Borlée and six of his seven children. (Full article...)
The patriarch of the Borlée family is Jacques Borlée (born 1957), bronze medalist at the 1983 European Indoor Championships in Budapest in the 200 m, while his first wife, Edith Demaertelaere (born 1964), was a good sprinter with a personal best of 23.89. Six of his seven children are athletes (the first five born from the first marriage with Edith, the last two born from a second marriage).[1]
The eldest daughter Olivia (born 1986) won the silver medal at the Olympics, which was upgraded to gold in 2016 due to the Russian team's disqualification due to doping, and the bronze at the 2007 Osaka World Championships with the 4 × 100 m relay, and the other daughter, Alizia (born 1991), was also a decent sprinter. The four sons are all 400 m specialists: the twins Jonathan and Kevin (born 1988), both Olympic finalists in London 2012, Dylan (born 1992) and the youngest Rayane. In addition, Jacques' older brother Jean-Pierre (born 1947) was also a sprinter.[2]
In 2015 the Belgian men's 4 × 400 metres relay team won the Belgian National Sports Merit Award (Trophée national du Mérite sportif) award assigned to the components Dylan Borlée, Jonathan Borlée, Kevin Borlée, Antoine Gillet et Julien Watrin.[3]
In an interview of 21 August 2013 released to the major Italian sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Jacques Borlée stated that he was inspired in his training methods by Sandro Calvesi, in turn the progenitor of one of the greatest families of Italian athletics, the Ottoz family. Calvesi was in fact the husband of the Berlin 1936 Olympian Gabre Gabric, father-in-law of the Olympic bronze medalist in the 110 metres hurdles in Mexico City 1968, Eddy Ottoz and father of Lyana Calvesi, current president of the Atletica Calvesi club and coach of the sprinter Eleonora Marchiando.[4]
At a press conference in June 2022, Jacques Borlée announced his retirement from coaching after the 2024 Summer Olympics.[5]
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the women's race at today's New York City Marathon will feature two of the medalists from this year's Olympic marathon?
- ... that the championship record was broken three times in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2024 World Athletics Relays?
- ... that Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in a championship record of 52.49 seconds?
- ... that Femke Bol won the women's 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in an unprecedented double victory?
- ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
- ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
- ... that at the 2022 British Athletics Championships, Daryll Neita became the first woman since 2010 to win both the 100- and 200-metre events?
World records
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Athletics events
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Athletics competitions
From the first edition at the 1896 Summer Games, athletics has been considered the "queen" of the Olympics. Today, there are several other athletics championships organized at global and continental levels. Athletics also serves as the main focus of many multi-sport events such as the World University Games, Mediterranean Games, and Pan American Games. The following is a list of prominent athletics competitions.
Event | 1st edition | Kind of competition | Can participate |
---|---|---|---|
Olympic Games | 1896 | World games | Worldwide |
World Championships | 1983 | World championships | |
World Indoor Championships | 1985 | ||
European Championships | 1934 | Continental championships | Europe |
European Indoor Championships | 1966 | ||
South American Championships | 1919 | South America | |
Asian Championships | 1973 | Asia | |
African Championships | 1979 | Africa | |
Ocenian Championships | 1990 | Oceania |
Federations
- Internationals
- International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
- European Athletics Association (EAA)
- Confederation of African Athletics (CAA)
- Asian Athletics Association (AAA)
- North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association
- CONSUDATLE
- Oceania Athletics Association (OAA)
- Nationals
- Australia: Athletics Australia (AA)
- Brazil: Brazilian Athletics Confederation (CBAt)
- Canada: Athletics Canada (AC)
- Czech: Czech Athletics Federation (ČAS)
- France: Fédération française d'athlétisme (FFA)
- Germany: German Athletics Association (DLV)
- Italy: Italian Athletics Federation (FIDAL)
- Jamaica: Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA)
- Japan: Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF)
- Kenya: Athletics Kenya (AK)
- China: Chinese Athletic Association
- Norway: Norwegian Athletics Association
- Romania: Romanian Athletics Federation
- Spain: Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA)
- Great Britain: UK Athletics (UKA)
- United States: USA Track & Field (USATF)
- Others
- Wales: Welsh Athletics (WA)
- England: Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA)
- Scotland: Scottishathletics
- Athletic Association of Small States of Europe (AASSE)
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Sources
- ^ "Mais qui est Rayane, le quatrième frère Borlée ?" (in French). rtbf.be. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
Rayane, leur petit frère de 19 ans. Il n'a pas la même mère que les trois ainés.
- ^ "FRATELLI BORLEE L'ATLETICA IN FAMIGLIA" (in Italian). runtoday.it. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ^ "LE 4X400M MASCULIN REÇOIT LE TROPHÉE NATIONAL DU MÉRITE SPORTIF" (in French). lbfa.be. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ^ "C'è un pò di Italia nel miracolo Borlée "Noi figli di Calvesi"" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
- ^ "Jacques Borlée to stop coaching after Paris 2024 Olympic Games". The Brussels Times. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2024.