Track and Field is a sport, which is includes disciplines of running, jumping, and throwing events. The sport traces back to Ancient Greece. The first recorded examples of this sport were at the Ancient Greek Olympics. In Ancient Greece, only one event was contested, the stadion footrace. Later on, the game expanded to more events.
Events of track and field are divided into three: track events, field events, and combined events. Track events consist of Sprints, middle-distance, long-distance, hurdles and relays; Field events consist of jumps and throws; while combined events consist of pentathlon, heptathlon, and decathlon. Track and field is usually played outdoors in stadiums. The usual features of a track and field stadium are the outer running track, and the field within the track.
Olympic Athletics Events
- Sprint (Athletics) — running events over short distances, such as 100m, 200m, 400m.
- Relay Running — a track and field running race in which athletes compete as a team, passing a baton from one runner to the next.
- Hurdles — involves running and jumping over regularly spaced obstacles at speed.
- Middle Distance — a set of track and field running events over distances such as 800m, 1500m, not a sprint and not an endurance race.
- Long-distance — events over distances of 3km and greater
- Steeplechase — a distance track running event with barriers and water jumps.
- Marathon — a distance running athletics event over 42.2 km.
- Long Jump — a track and field event where the athlete attempts to jump the longest into a sand pit.
- Triple jump — a track and field event where the athlete attempts to hop, skip and jump the longest distance.
- High Jump — an Olympic Track and Field event in which the athlete attempt to jump over the highest bar.
- Pole Vault — an athletics event in which a competitor leaps over a bar using a flexible pole.
- Javelin — track and field event involving throwing a spear-like implement as far as possible.
- Shot put — the track and field event in which the athletes throw a heavy metal ball for maximum distance.
- Hammer throw — an Olympic track and field event in which a heavy weight at the end of a wire is thrown for distance.
- Discus — athletes attempt to throw a heavy disc object far as they can.
- Race Walking — competitors attempt to outrace one another without running.
- Decathlon — a track and field event comprising 10 events.
- Heptathlon — a women's track and field multi-event comprising 7 events.
Other Athletics Events
- Track'athlon — the opening event in 'Dynamic New Athletics' (DNA), a mixed-team, two-hour model of athletics that will debut at the 2019 European Games. Track'athlon is an athletics assault course that features a sled run, shot put toss, standing long jump, water jump and a medicine ball run for men in lap one and the same minus the medicine ball run - but including a parachute run - for women in lap two. The DNA concludes with another new event called 'The Hunt', a distance-medley race where the teams that perform best in the first nine events get a proportionate head start, the winner being the first across the line.
- Racerunning — a racing sport for disabled athletes, in which they use a specially designed tricycle.
- Softball Throw — a track and field discipline in which you throw the ball as far as possible, mostly used in competitions for disadvantaged groups as a substitute for other technical throwing events.
- Icosathlon — a double decathlon consisting of 20 events, including the 10 traditional decathlon events with 10 additional track and field events.
- Tetradecathlon — a double heptathlon consisting of 14 events, including the 7 traditional heptathlon events with 7 additional track and field events.
Related Sports
- Fell Running — running and racing done off-road or on any over upland country, with a significant hill component
- Cross Country Running — individuals or teams run races which involve courses over natural terrain.