The Athletics reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Athletics

For the Major League Baseball team, see Oakland Athletics.

Athletics (in the US also known as track and field or track and field athletics) is a collection of sport events, which can roughly be divided into running, throwing, and jumping.

Athletic events are usually organised around a 400 m running track, on which most of the running events take place. Field events (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 Olympic Games in 1896 and has been part of the program ever since. An international governing body, the IAAF was founded in 1912. The IAAF established separate outdoor World Championships in 1983. The AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) was the governing body in the United States until it collapsed under pressure from advancing professionalism in the late 1970's. 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.

Table of contents

1 Events 2 World Records 2.1 Men 2.2 Women 3 See also

Events

There are other variations besides the ones listed below but races of unusual length (e.g. 300 m) are run much less often. 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.

Men and women do not compete against each. 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, 100 m, 200 m and 400 m.
  • Middle distance: events from 800 m to 3000 m, especially 800 m, 1500 m, mile and 3000 m.
    • steeplechase - a race (usually 3000m) in which runners must negotiate barriers and water jumps.
  • Long Distance: runs over 5000 m. Common events are 5000 m and 10000 m.
  • Hurdling: 110 m high hurdles (100 m for women) and 400 m intermediate hurdles.
  • Relays: 4 x 100 m, 4 x 400 m, 4 x 200 m, 4 x 800 m, etc. Some events, such as medley relays, are rarely run except at large relay carnivals.
• Road running: conducted on open roads, but often finishing on the track. Common events are half-marathon and marathon.
• Racewalking: usually conducted on open roads. Common events are 10 km, 20 km and 50 km.
• Field events
  • Throwing events
    • Shot put
    • Hammer throw
    • Javelin throw
    • Discus throw
  • Jumping events
    • High jump
    • Long jump
    • Pole vault
    • Triple jump
• Composite events
  • Pentathlon
  • Heptathlon
  • Decathlon

World Records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Date	Place
100 m	9.78s	Tim Montgomery (United States>USA)	Sept 14, 2002	Paris, France
200 m	19.32s	Michael Johnson (USA)	Aug 1, 1996	Atlanta, Ga, USA
400 m	43.18s	Michael Johnson (USA)	Aug 26, 1999	Seville, Spain
800 m	1:41.11	Wilson Kipketer (Denmark)	Aug 24, 1997	Cologne, Germany
1000 m	2:11.96	Noah Ngeny (Kenya)	Sept 5, 1999	Rieti, Italy
1500 m	3:26.00	Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)	July 14, 1998	Rome, Italy
mile	3:43:13	Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)	July 7, 1999	Rome, Italy
2000 m	4:44.79	Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)	Sept 7, 1999	Berlin, Germany
3000 m	7:20.67	Daniel Komen (Kenya)	Sept 1, 1996	Rieti, Italy
5000 m	12:37.35	Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)	May 31, 2004	Hengelo, Netherlands
10,000 m	26:20.31	Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)	June 8, 2004	Ostrava, Czech Republic
20,000 m	56:55.6	Arturo Barrios (Mexico)	March 30, 1991	La Flèche, France
25,000 m	1:13:55.8	Toshihiko Seko (Japan)	March 22, 1981	Christchurch, New Zealand>NZ
30,000 m	1:29:18.8	Toshihiko Seko (Japan)	March 22, 1981	Christchurch, New Zealand>NZ
3000 m steeplechase	7:55.72	Brahim Boulami (Morocco)	Aug 16, 2002	Zürich, Switzerland
110 m hurdles	12.91s	Colin Jackson (United Kingdom>UK)	Aug 20, 1993	Stuttgart, Germany
400 m hurdles	46.78s	USA)	Aug 6, 1992	Barcelona, Spain
High jump	2.45m	Javier Sotomayor (Cuba)	July 27, 1993	Salamanca, Spain
Pole vault	6.14m	Sergey Bubka (Ukraine)	July 31, 1994	Sestriere, Italy
Long jump	8.95m	Mike Powell (United States>USA)	Aug 30, 1991	Tokyo, Japan
Triple jump	18.29m	Jonathan Edwards (UK)	Aug 7, 1995	Göteborg, Sweden
Shot put	23.12m	Randy Barnes (United States>USA)	May 20, 1990	Los Angeles, Ca, USA
Discus	74.08m	Jürgen Schult (E. Germany)	June 6, 1986	Neubrandenburg, E. Germany
Hammer	86.74m	USSR)	Aug 30, 1986	Stuttgart, West Germany>W. Germany
Javelin	98.48m	Jan Zelezný (Czech Republic>Czech Rep)	May 25, 1996	Jena, Germany
Decathlon	9026 pts	Czech Rep)	May 27, 2001	Götzis, Austria
	10.64s (100 m), 8.11m (long jump), 15.33m (shot put), 2.12m (high jump), 47.79s (400 m), 13.92s (110 m hurdles), 47.92m (discus), 4.80 m (pole vault), 70.16m (javelin), 4:21.98s (1500 m)
20 km walk	1:17:21	Jefferson Pérez (Ecuador)	Aug 23, 2003	Paris, France
30 km walk	2:01:44.1	Maurizio Damilano (Italy)	Oct 3, 1992	Cuneo, Italy
50 km walk	3:40:57.9	Thierry Toutain (France)	Sept 29, 1996	Héricourt, France
4x100 m relay	37.40s	Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell, Carl Lewis (United States>USA)	Aug 8, 1992	Barcelona, Spain
4x200 m relay	1:18.68	Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard, Carl Lewis (United States>USA)	April 17, 1994	Walnut, Ca, USA
4x400 m relay	2:54.20	Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Tyree Washington, Michael Johnson (United States>USA)	July 22, 1998	New York City
4x800 m relay	7:03.89	Steve Cram, Sebastian Coe (United Kingdom>UK)	Aug 30, 1982	London, England
4x1500 m relay	14:38.8	Michael Lederer, Karl Fleschen (West Germany>W. Germany)	Aug 17, 1977	Cologne, West Germany>W. Germany
4x110 m hurdles relay	54.40s	University of Tennessee (United States>USA)	May 22, 1981	Knoxville, Tenn, USA
Marathon	2:04:55	Paul Tergat (Kenya)	Sept 28, 2003	Berlin, Germany

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Date	Place
100 m	10.49s	Florence Griffith Joyner (United States>USA)	July 16, 1988	Indianapolis, Ind, USA
200 m	21.34s	Florence Griffith Joyner (United States>USA)	Sept 29, 1988	Seoul, South Korea>S. Korea
400 m	47.60	Marita Koch (East Germany>E. Germany)	Oct 6, 1985	Canberra, Australia
800 m	1:53.28	Jarmila Kratochvílová (Czechoslovakia)	July 26, 1983	Munich, West Germany>W. Germany
1000 m	2:28.98	Svetlana Masterkova (Russia)	Aug 23, 1996	Brussels, Belgium
1500 m	3:50.46	China)	Sept 11, 1993	Beijing, People's Republic of China>China
2000 m	5:25.36	Rep. Ireland)	July 8, 1994	Edinburgh, Scotland
3000 m	8:06.11	China)	Sept 13, 1993	Beijing, People's Republic of China>China
5000 m	14:24.68	Elvan Abeylegesse (Turkey)	June 11, 2004	Bergen, Norway
10,000 m	29:31.78	China)	Sept 8, 1993	Beijing, People's Republic of China>China
20,000 m	1:05:26.6	Tegla Loroupe (Kenya)	Sept 3, 2000	Borgholzhausen, Germany
25,000 m	1:27:05.8	Tegla Loroupe (Kenya)	Sept 21, 2002	Mengerskirchen, Germany
30,000 m	1:45:50.0	Tegla Loroupe (Kenya)	June 7, 2003	Warstein, Germany
3000 m steeplechase	9:01.59	Gulnara Samitova, (Russia)	July 4, 2004	Heraklion, Greece
100 m hurdles	12.21s	Yordanka Donkova (Bulgaria)	Aug 20, 1988	Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
400 m hurdles	52.34s	Yuliya Pechenkina (Russia)	Aug 8, 2003	Tula, Russia
High jump	2.09m	Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria)	Aug 30, 1987	Rome, Italy
Pole vault	4.83m	Svetlana Feofanova (Russia)	July 4, 2004	Heraklion, Greece
Long jump	7.52m	USSR)	June 11, 1988	Leningrad, Soviet Union>USSR
Triple jump	15.50	Inesa Kravets (Ukraine)	Aug 10, 1995	Göteborg, Sweden
Shot put	22.63	USSR)	June 7, 1987	Moscow, Soviet Union>USSR
Discus	76.80	E. Germany	July 9, 1988	Neubrandenburg, East Germany>E. Germany
Hammer throw	75.97m	Mihaela Melinte (Romania)	May 13, 1999	Clermont-Ferrand, France
Javelin	71.54m	Osleidys Menéndez (Cuba)	July 1, 2001	Rethymno, Greece
Heptathlon	7291 pts	Jackie Joyner-Kersee (United States>USA)	Sept 23-24, 1988	Seoul, South Korea>S. Korea
	12.69s (110 m hurdles), 1.86m (high jump), 15.80 m (shot put), 22.56s (200 m), 7.27m (long jump), 45.66m (javelin), 2:08.51 (800 m)
5 km walk	20:02.60	Rep. of Ireland)	July 13, 2002	Dublin, Ireland
10 km walk	41:56.23	USSR)	July 24, 1990	Seattle, Wa, USA
4x100 m Relay	41.37	Ingrid Auerswald, Marlies Göhr (East Germany>E. Germany)	Oct 6, 1985	Canberra, Australia
4x200 m Relay	1:27.46	Nanceen Perry, Marion Jones (United States>USA)	April 29, 2000	Philadelphia, Pa, USA
4x400 m Relay	3:15.17	Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina (Soviet Union>USSR)	Oct 1, 1988	Seoul, South Korea>S. Korea
4x800 m Relay	7:50.17	Lyudmila Borisova, Irina Podyalovskaya (Soviet Union>USSR)	Aug 5, 1984	Moscow, Soviet Union>USSR
Marathon	2:15:25	Paula Radcliffe (United Kingdom>UK)	April 13, 2003	London, England, United Kingdom>UK

See also

• Olympic medalists in athletics (men)
• Olympic medalists in athletics (women)
• World Record progression 100 m men
• World record progression for the mile run

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