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Athletics (track and field)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports

   A women's 400 metre hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track.
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   A women's 400 metre hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track.

   Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics,
   is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing and
   jumping. The name is derived from the Greek word "athlon" meaning
   "contest".

   Some languages (e.g. German and Russian) refer to these sports as
   "light athletics" to distinguish them from "heavy athletics," like
   weight lifting, wrestling, etc.

History

   Athletics was the original event at the first Olympics back in 776 BCE
   where the only event held was the stadium-length foot race or "stade".

   There were several other "Games" held throughout Europe in the
   classical era:
     * Panhellenic Games:
          + The Pythian Games (founded 527 BCE) held in Delphi every four
            years
          + The Nemean Games (founded 516 BCE) held in Argolid every two
            years
          + The Isthmian Games (founded 523 BCE) held on the Isthmus of
            Corinth every two years (one year being that which followed
            the Olympics)
     * The Roman Games – Arising from Etruscan rather than purely Greek
       roots, the Roman Games deemphasized footraces and throwing.
       Instead, the Greek sports of chariot racing and wrestling, as well
       as the Etruscan sport of gladiatorial combat, took centre stage.

   Other peoples enjoyed athletic contests, such as the Celts, Teutons and
   Goths who succeeded the Romans. However, these were often related to
   combat training, and were not very well organized. In the Middle Ages
   the sons of noblemen would be trained in running, leaping and
   wrestling, in addition to riding, jousting and arms-training. Contests
   between rivals and friends may have been common on both official and
   unofficial grounds. Many athletic sports have found favour in Europe
   throughout the ages. However, in Britain they fell out of favour
   between the 13th and 16th centuries due to government restrictions on
   sports aiming to reduce the practice of archery. After this ban was
   lifted in the 17th century sports began to flourish once more, but it
   was not until the 19th century that organization began to appear. This
   included the incorporation of regular sports and exercise into school
   regimes. The Royal Military College, Sandhurst has claimed to be the
   first to adopt this in 1812 and 1825 but without any supporting
   evidence. The earliest recorded meeting was organised at Shrewsbury,
   Shropshire in 1840 by the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. There are
   details of the meeting in a series of letters written 60 years later by
   CT Robinson who was a pupil there from 1838 to 1841.

   Modern athletic events are usually organized around a 400 metre running
   track, on which most of the running events take place. Field events
   (vaulting, jumping, and throwing) often take place in the field in the
   centre of the running track.

   Many athletic events have an ancient origin and were already conducted
   in competitive form by the ancient Greeks. Athletics was included in
   the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been part of the program
   ever since, providing the backbone of the Olympics. Women were not
   allowed to participate in track and field events in the Olympics until
   1928. An international governing body, the IAAF was founded in 1912.
   The IAAF established separate outdoor World Championships in 1983.
   Other major events include the World Indoor Championships and the
   European Championships. The sport has a very high profile during major
   championships, especially the Olympics, but otherwise ranks well down
   the list of sports by public interest in almost all countries. The
   leading regular circuit of events takes place in Europe each summer,
   and includes the Golden League events.

   The AAU ( Amateur Athletic Union) was the governing body in the United
   States until it collapsed under pressure from advancing professionalism
   in the late 1970s. A new governing body called The Athletics Congress
   (TAC) was formed, it was later renamed USA Track and Field (USATF or
   USA T&F). An additional, less structured organization, the Road Runners
   Club of America (RRCA) also exists in the USA to promote road racing.
   Both organizations allow athletes to receive money for racing putting
   an end to the " shamateurism" that existed before.

Indoor track and field

   There are two seasons for track and field. There is an indoor season,
   run during the winter and an outdoor season, run during the spring and
   summer. Most indoor tracks are 200 meters, however, less frequently,
   there are smaller and larger tracks that measure from between 145 (11
   laps to a mile) to 300 meters. The indoor track consists of four to six
   lanes instead of the eight to ten on an outdoor track. Often an indoor
   track will have banked turns to compensate for the tight bends.

   In an indoor track meet athletes contest the same events as an outdoor
   meet with the exception of the 100 m and 110 m/100 m hurdles (replaced
   by the 60 m sprint and 60 m hurdles at most levels and sometimes the
   55m sprint and 55m hurdles at the high school level), and the 10,000 m
   run and 3,000m steeplechase. Indoor meets also have the addition of a
   3,000 m run normally at both the collegiate and elite level instead of
   the 10,000 m. The 5,000 m is the longest event commonly run indoors,
   although there are situations where longer distances have been raced.
   In the mid 20th century, there was a series of races 'duel races' at
   Madison Square Garden's (NY) indoor track, some of which featured two
   men racing a marathon (26.2 miles). However, this is an extremely rare
   occurrence, for obvious reasons. In some occasions, there may also be a
   500 m race instead the open 400 m normally found outdoors, and in many
   collegiate championship races indoors both are contested.

   In the field events, indoor meets only feature the high jump, pole
   vault, long jump, triple jump and shot put. The longer throws of
   javelin, hammer and discus are added only for outdoor meets, as there
   is normally not enough space in an indoor stadium to house these
   events.

   Other events unique to indoor meets (especially in the United States)
   are the 300m, 600m, 1000m and 35 lb. weight throw. In some countries,
   notably Norway, standing long jump and standing high jump are also
   contested.

   For multi-event athletes there is the Pentathlon for women (consisting
   of 60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800m) and heptathlon
   for men (consisting of 60m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60m
   hurdles, pole vault and 1000m).

Outdoor track and field

   The outdoor track and field season begins in the spring and may last
   through the summer. Usually the tracks are an oval shape track of 400
   meters. However, some old tracks are still measured in yards, so they
   measure 440 yards. The track consists of 6-10 lanes and, for the bigger
   tracks, a steeplechase lane with a water pit. This can be inside or
   outside the track, making for a tighter turn or a wider turn. Often
   schools will place a playingfield in the middle of the track, usually
   football/soccer/ lacrosse, due to their size and shape. This inner
   field is usually known as the infield. Recently, some of these fields
   have been made out of AstroTurf or FieldTurf instead of grass.

   Field events consist of the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple
   jump and shot put. They also consist of the javelin, hammer and discus
   throws; however, often these are outside of the stadium because they
   take up a large amount of space and may damage grass fields. However,
   many tracks without a playing field in the middle use the infield for
   the throwing events.

Events

   There are other variations besides the ones listed below but races of
   unusual length (e.g. 300 m) are run much less often. The unusual races
   are typically held during indoor season because of the shorter 200m
   indoor track. With the exception of the mile run, races based on
   imperial distances are rarely run on the track anymore since most
   tracks have been converted from a quarter mile (402.3 m) to 400 meters;
   almost all recordkeeping for imperial distances has been discontinued.
   However, the IAAF record book still includes the mile world record
   (currently held by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco for men and Svetlana
   Masterkova of Russia for women) because of its worldwide historic
   significance.

   Men and women do not compete against each other. Women generally run
   the same distances as men although hurdles and steeplechase barriers
   are lower and the weights of the shot, discus, javelin and hammer are
   less.
     * Track events - running events conducted on a 400 meter track.
          + Sprints: events up to and including 400 m. Common events are
            60 m (indoors only), 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres.
          + Middle distance: events from 800m to 3000 m, especially 800
            metres, 1500 metres, mile and 3000m. In the United States
            (especially high schools), distance events include 800 m, 1600
            m (mile), and 3200 m (2 miles). (1 mile=1609.344 meters)
               o steeplechase - a race (usually 3000 m) in which runners
                 must negotiate barriers and water jumps.
          + Long distance: runs over 5000 m. Common events are 5000 m and
            10000 m. Less common are 6, 12, 24 hour races.
          + Hurdling: 110 m high hurdles (100 m for women) and 400 m
            intermediate hurdles (300 m in some high schools).
          + Relays: 4 x 100 metres relay, 4 x 400 metres relay, 4 x 200 m,
            4 x 800 m, etc. Some events, such as medley relays, are rarely
            run except at large relay carnivals. Most American high
            schools run the 4x100 and 4x400, with the 4x400 being the
            finishing event to the meet.
     * Road running: conducted on open roads, but often finishing on the
       track. Common events are half-marathon and marathon. The marathon
       is the only distance run in major international athletics
       championships such as the Olympics.
     * Race walking: usually conducted on open roads. Common events are 10
       km, 20 km and 50 km.
     * Field events
          + Throwing events
               o Shot put
               o Hammer throw
               o Javelin throw
               o Discus throw
          + Jumping events
               o High jump
               o Long jump
               o Pole vault
               o Triple jump
               o Standing high jump
               o Standing long jump
               o Standing triple jump
     * Combined or Multi events
          + Pentathlon
          + Heptathlon
          + Decathlon

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