Athletics at the Summer Olympics

Athletics is a wide range of competitions, including walking, running, jumping, and throwing. Although these games are known as track and field in the United States, they are commonly referred to as athletics elsewhere. Athletics is mainly an individual activity, except relay events and tournaments.

Track and field athletics are the oldest forms of competitive sport, growing from the most fundamental human actions. It has become one of the most truly international sports. Athletics is also played in the Olympics, with practically every country participating in some type of competition.

Athletes Olympic History

Athletics was the natural choice for the first modern Olympics, organized in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Due to its long history of the Olympic program, athletics is the Summer Games' crown jewel. The men's events have remained the same since the 1932 Los Angeles Games, except for the addition of the 20km race walk during the 1956 Melbourne Games.

The first women's events were held at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Until 1992, the women's competition consisted of only 17 events; however, with the addition of the 3000m race in 2008, female athletes are now involved in the same number of events as men.

Athletics increased in developing countries throughout the 1960s, and the sport gained global popularity. At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, athletes representing 62 different countries competed in the finals.

Paris Athletics Olympic Events

The sport’s governing body, World Athletics, classifies it into six events: track and field, road running, mountain running, trail running, cross country running, and race walking. Six events are:

• Track and Field Events: Track and field competition was begin in the late nineteenth century and were primarily contested by athletes. They include jumping, running, throwing, and hurdling.
• Road Running Events: Road running events run competitions mostly on paved or asphalt roads, while large races frequently end on a stadium track.
• Cross-Country Running: Cross-country running is the most realistic of the athletics disciplines, with events held on open-air courses over surfaces such as grass, wooded paths, and earth.
• Racewalking: Racewalking is a type of competitive walking that mostly occurs on open-air roadways; however, running tracks are occasionally used.
• Mountain Running: Mountain running is a sports discipline that takes place mostly off-road in mountainous settings, though sidewalks may be used if the route has a necessary elevation rise.
• Trail Running: Trail running is running that takes place on outdoor trails, usually in mountainous terrain, and frequently involves major ascents and descents.

Paris Athletics Olympic Games List

• Sprints
• Long Events
• Triple Jump
• Paddleboarding
• Javelin
• Steeplechase
• Race Walking
• Marathon
• Wrestling
• Hurdling
• Gymnastics
• Cyclic

Athletic Olympic records

Men’s Olympic records in athletes

Women’s Olympic Records in Athletes