Portal:Sport of athletics

A copy of the Ancient Greek statue Discobolus, portraying a discus thrower

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...)

Starting places on tartan track

Tartan Track is a trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing made of polyurethane used for track and field competitions, manufactured by 3M. The original production was in 1967, and the product was later reformulated to eliminate the use of mercury. Relative to some other surfaces, it lets athletes compete in bad weather without serious performance loss and improves their results over other surfaces. It also provides a more consistent surface for competition even under optimum weather. Similar tracks have become the standard for most elite competitions.

Because the "Tartan" product was widely successful in its time, the name Tartan has been used as a genericized trademark for description of an all-weather running track.

A competing product is AstroTurf, originally made by Monsanto in 1965 and originally called ChemGrass. Like the Tartan product, the "AstroTurf" brand name has become genericized. The Tartan branded product has also had various other competitors. (Full article...)

27 October:

• Robbie Brightwell, British sprinter
• Luis Brunetto, Argentinian triple jumper
• John Capel, American sprinter
• Michèle Chardonnet, French hurdler
• Edvard Larsen, Norwegian triple jumper
• Atlee Mahorn, Canadian sprinter
• Tom McKean, British middle-distance runner
• Maria Mutola, Mozambican middle-distance runner
• Christiane Wartenberg, German middle-distance runner

• ... that the 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist in the heptathlon was Denise Lewis?
• ... that as part of a publicity stunt, the 1927 Texas Relays held an 89 mile (143 km) running race from San Antonio to Austin?
• ... that Czech decathlete Roman Šebrle, world record holder and 2004 Olympic winner, was injured in January 2007 when a javelin which had been thrown 55 metres pierced his shoulder?
• ... that at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, Yipsi Moreno became world champion in the hammer throw at the age of twenty, improving from an eighteenth place finish in 1999?

Shaheen in 2009

Saif Saaeed Shaheen (Arabic: سيف سعيد شاهين), formerly Stephen Cherono (born 15 October 1982), is a steeplechase runner. He was born in Keiyo, Kenya but now he represents Qatar. He was, for 19 years, the world record holder for 3000 metre steeplechase. He is a two time World Champion in the event. His older brother Abraham Cherono is also a steeplechase runner.

He was the 1999 World Youth Champion in the steeplechase and set a world junior record two years later. He won the steeplechase at the 2002 Commonwealth Games for Kenya but switched allegiance to Qatar in 2003. That year he became world champion in the event, although a dispute with the Kenyan Athletics Federation meant he was ineligible to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He set a world record of 7:53.63 minutes in Brussels just ten days after the Olympic final, and later defeated that year's Olympic champion, Ezekiel Kemboi, at the 2004 World Athletics Final in Monaco.

In the 2006 season he took the 3000 metres silver medal at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships and also set a number of Asian records. He completed a 5000 m/steeplechase double at the 2006 IAAF World Cup. Serious injuries ruled him out from late 2006 to 2008. He returned in 2009 and 2010 but failed to reach the same level of performance and retired from the sport. (Full article...)

• ... that German runner Alica Schmidt, who is running in the Women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, has won multiple European junior relay medals?
• ... 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 for the first time this century, this year's British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television?
• ... that Moneyball depicted Grady Fuson being fired by the Oakland Athletics, though in reality he left voluntarily?
• ... that the men's 100 metres event at the 2023 British Athletics Championships was run in heavy rain?
• ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
• ... that at the 2022 British Athletics Championships, Daryll Neita became the first woman since 2010 to win both the 100- and 200-metre events?
• ... that Marthe Yankurije, who dropped out of school during her fourth year of secondary school, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics?

WikiProjects

• WikiProject Athletics
• WikiProject Sports

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