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World Athletics , formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF , is the international governing body for the sport of athletics , covering track and field , cross country running , road running , race walking , mountain running , and ultra running . Included in its charge is the standardization of rules and regulations for the sports, certification of athletic facilities, recognition and management of world records , and the organisation and sanctioning of athletics competitions, including the World Athletics Championships . The organisation's president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom , who was elected to the four-year position in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 for a second four-year term, and then again in 2023 for a third four-year term.

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112-641: The Emsley Carr Mile is an annual invitational athletics running event held in the United Kingdom over one mile for men. The race was won in 2024 by the Australian athlete Olli Hoare . The race was inaugurated in 1953 by Sir William Carr in memory of his father Sir Emsley Carr , a former editor of the News of the World . The event was created to encourage athletes to break the four-minute mile . By

224-836: A physical disability compete at the Summer Paralympics and the World Para Athletics Championships . The most prestigious glabal season-long leagues in the sport are the Diamond League for track and field athletes, and the World Marathon Majors in marathon runnning. The word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής ( athlētēs , "combatant in public games") from ἆθλον ( athlon , "prize") or ἆθλος ( athlos , "competition"). Initially,

336-422: A competitive advantage or differing cultural perspectives over the eligibility of a category. Beyond the primary categories based on physical attributes, some competitions have further eligibility criteria based on nationality, community membership or occupation. The foremost division of this kind is by sex[ling]: in athletics, men and women almost exclusively compete against people of the same sex. In contrast to

448-536: A competitive age grouping is typically assessed through official documentation, such as birth records or passports. Instances of age cheating have occurred at all of the IAAF's global age category championships. One prominent incident was Olympic medalist Thomas Longosiwa , who provided a falsified passport to compete at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics at age 24. Age falsification for youth categories

560-748: A congress in Berlin , Germany, the following year, overseen by Sigfrid Edström who was to become the fledgling organisation's first president. The 1913 congress formally completed the founding of what was then known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). It was headquartered in Stockholm from 1912 to 1946, in London from 1946 to 1993, and thereafter moved to its current location in Monaco . In 1926,

672-451: A disability. Blind Ivy Granstrom set numerous Masters world records while being guided around the track. The disability categories have caused dispute among athletes, with some athletes being accused of exaggerating their level of disability in order to compete in less challenging categories. Athletes with intellectual disabilities were banned from competition in all Paralympic sports in response to verification issues and cheating at

784-489: A final points tally. The most prestigious track and field contests occur within athletics championships and athletics programmes at multi-sport events . The Olympic athletics competition and World Championships in Athletics , and the Paralympic athletics competition and World Para Athletics Championships , are the highest and most prestigious levels of competition in track and field. Track and field events have become

896-460: A level at which they can compete against able-bodied athletes. Legally blind Marla Runyan ran in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and won a gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1999 Pan American Games . Oscar Pistorius , a double amputee, was a semi-finalist at the 2011 World Championships and won a silver medal as part of South Africa's 4 × 400 metres relay team . In masters athletics it is far more common to make an accommodation for athletes with

1008-600: A professional track and field circuit in the United States in the 1970s. Athletes used their increasing status to push for remuneration and the IAAF responded with the IAAF Golden Events series and the establishment an outdoor World Championships in 1983, including track and field, racewalking and a marathon event. In modern times, athletes can receive money for racing, putting an end to the so-called " amateurism " that existed before. The global body updated

1120-732: A season-ending IAAF Grand Prix Final for a selection of men's and women's events. The IAAF World Cross Challenge followed in 1990 and began an annual series for cross country running . The track and field circuit was expanded in 1993 with the creation of the IAAF Grand Prix II level, and the IAAF Golden League in 1998. World Athletics began recognising annual indoor track meets via the IAAF Indoor Permit Meetings series in 1997, and in 1998 decathletes and heptathletes found seasonal support with

1232-576: A second volume since 1980. It contains a history of mile running since 1868 from around the world and also includes signatures of many of the world's leading milers, including Paavo Nurmi , Sydney Wooderson , John Landy , Gordon Pirie , and Roger Bannister. The race has been won by eleven Olympic champions, Kip Keino , Steve Ovett , Murray Halberg , John Walker , Geoff Smith , Sebastian Coe , Saïd Aouita , William Tanui , Vénuste Niyongabo , Haile Gebrselassie , Asbel Kiprop , and Hicham El Guerrouj . It has also been won by seven athletes who have held

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1344-457: 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

1456-450: A similar meaning. In many parts of North America, athletics is commonly understood as encompassing sports in general, aligning with its historical usage. The term "athletics" is seldom used specifically to denote the sport of athletics in this region. Instead, "track and field" is the preferred term used in the United States and Canada to describe athletics events, which include race-walking and marathon running (although cross-country running

1568-422: A sports festival which emerged in 17th century England , featured athletics in the form of sledgehammer throwing contests. Annually, from 1796 to 1798, L'Olympiade de la République was held in revolutionary France , and is an early forerunner to the modern Olympic Games. The premier event of this competition was a running event, but various ancient Greek disciplines were also on display. The 1796 Olympiade marked

1680-454: A winner. The sport became professionalised as footmen were hired specifically on their athletic ability and began to devote their lives to training for the gambling events. The amateur sports movement in the late 19th century marginalised competitions based on the professional, gambling model. The 1896 Summer Olympics saw the birth of the modern marathon and the event led to the growth of road running competitions through annual events such as

1792-426: Is a form of competitive walking that usually takes place on open-air roads, although running tracks are also occasionally used. Racewalking is the only sport in athletics in which judges monitor athletes on their technique. Racewalkers must always have a foot in contact with the ground and their advancing leg must be straightened, not bent at the knee – failure to follow these rules results in disqualification from

1904-427: Is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running , jumping and throwing . 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

2016-399: Is defined by the venue in which the competitions are held – the athletics stadium . A variety of running events are held on the track which fall into three broad distance categories: sprints , middle-distance , and long-distance track events . Relay races feature teams comprising four runners each, who must pass a baton to their teammate after a specified distance with the aim of being

2128-432: Is designed similarly to an outdoor track, but is only 200 metres in length and has between four and eight lanes, each with width between 0.90 m and 1.10 m. Often, the bends of an indoor track will be banked to compensate for the small turning radius. However, because of space limitations, indoor tracks may have other nonstandard lengths, such as 160-yard (146.3 m) indoor track at Madison Square Garden used for

2240-605: Is headed by a president . The World Athletics Council has a total of 26 elected members, comprising one president, four vice-presidents (one senior), the presidents of the six area associations, two members of the Athletes' Commission and 13 Council members. Each member of the Council is elected for a four-year period by the World Athletics Congress, a biennial gathering of athletics officials that consists of

2352-653: Is mostly limited to less developed parts of the world, such as Africa and South Asia, which have less stringent controls on official documentation and many mature athletes engaging in high school competition due to disruptions to education. The same regions of the world also present issues with age verification in masters age categories, with examples such as Indian distance runners Dharampal Singh Gudha and Fauja Singh (both claiming to be over 100 years old) reaching mainstream attention. Athletes with physical disabilities have competed at separate international events since 1952. The International Paralympic Committee governs

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2464-613: Is outlined in the World Athletics Constitution, which may be amended by the Congress. The World Athletics Council appoints a chief executive officer (CEO), who is focused on improving the coverage of the sport and the organisation's commercial interests. This role was created and merged with the General Secretary role that had existed previously. British former athlete and businessman Jon Ridgeon

2576-727: Is typically categorized as a distinct sport). Athletic contests in running, walking, jumping and throwing are among the oldest of all sports and their roots are prehistoric . Athletics events were depicted in the Ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara , with illustrations of running at the Heb Sed festival and high jumping appearing in tombs from as early as of 2250 BC. The Tailteann Games were an ancient Celtic festival in Ireland , founded c.  1800 BC , and

2688-402: The 1912 Summer Olympics . One variation on traditional cross country is mountain running , which incorporates significant uphill and downhill sections as an additional challenge to the course. Fell running and Orienteering are other competitive sports similar to cross country, although they feature an element of navigation which is absent from the set courses of cross country. Racewalking

2800-661: The 2016 Olympics in Rio . That meant Russian athletes could compete at all major events in the following years, including the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London and the 2018 European Championships in Berlin . In September 2018, World Athletics faced a legal challenge by Russia to overturn the suspension after the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency , but Hugo Lowell of the i newspaper reported

2912-671: The Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) process. In 2022, though, World Athletics imposed sanctions against the Member Federations of Russia and Belarus because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine , and all athletes, support personnel, and officials from Russia and Belarus were excluded from all World Athletics Series events for the foreseeable future, and Russian athletes who had received ANA status for 2022 were excluded from World Athletics Series events for

3024-574: The Great North Run , attract similar attention. An international governing body, the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), was founded in 1912. It enforced amateur sport status on competitions during much of the 20th century. Professional competition continued at a low level, becoming increasingly more common as the century progressed. The International Track Association briefly formed

3136-641: The IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge as the top level of hammer throwing contests (as hammer was not included in the Diamond League). The Road Race Label grouping was also expanded that year with the creation of a Bronze label status. The Race Walking Challenge Final was removed from the racewalking schedule after 2012, as the series focused on international championship performances. In 2016, the IAAF World Indoor Tour

3248-503: The IAAF World Race Walking Cup  – which has been held since 1961. The IAAF World Race Walking Challenge forms the primary seasonal competition – athletes earn points for their performances at ten selected racewalking competitions and the highest scoring walkers are entered into that year's IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final . The significant variation in people's abilities in the sport of athletics has led to

3360-479: The Millrose Games . Because of space limitations, meetings held at indoor facilities do not hold many of athletics events typically contested outdoors. World Athletics The process to found World Athletics began in Stockholm , Sweden, on 18 July 1912 soon after the completion of the 1912 Summer Olympics in that city. At that meeting, 27 representatives from 17 national federations agreed to meet at

3472-767: The Summer Olympics and most other major multi-sport events . The foremost international athletics meeting is the World Athletics Championships , which incorporates track and field, marathon running and race walking. Other top level competitions in athletics include the World Athletics Indoor Championships , World Athletics Cross Country Championships and the World Athletics Road Running Championships . Athletes with

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3584-601: The Summer Paralympics . The World Marathon Majors series includes the six most prestigious marathon competitions at the elite level – the Berlin , Boston , Chicago , London , New York City and Tokyo Marathons . The sport of road running finds its roots in the activities of footmen : male servants who ran alongside the carriages of aristocrats around the 18th century, and who also ran errands over distances for their masters. Foot racing competitions evolved from wagers between aristocrats, who pitted their footman against that of another aristocrat in order to determine

3696-739: The Towerrunning World Association ). Snowshoe running is a winter sport governed by the World Snowshoe Federation , which is similarly to cross country running but has athletes wearing snowshoes to race over deep snow on an obstacle-free course. The International Association of Ultrarunners organises ultra running as an affiliate of World Athletics, but these long-distance forms of competition fit within World Athletics disciplines, albeit with additional distance. Athletics, specifically

3808-842: The USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships – first held in 1876 by the New York Athletic Club . Athletics became codified and standardized via the English AAA and other general sports organisations in the late 19th century, such as the Amateur Athletic Union (founded in the US in 1888) and the Union des sociétés françaises de sports athlétiques (founded in France in 1889). An athletics competition

3920-653: The World Athletics Continental Tour . The organisation hosts the annual World Athletics Awards, formerly the World Athletics Gala until 2017, at the end of each year to recognise the achievements of athletes and other people involved in the sport. Members may also be inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame as part of the ceremony. The following awards are given: The World Athletics Heritage Plaque for (a) Legend, and (b) Culture

4032-425: The long jump and triple jump are contests measuring the horizontal distance an athlete can jump, while the high jump and pole vault are decided on the height achieved. Combined events , which include the decathlon (typically competed by men) and heptathlon (typically competed by women), are competitions where athletes compete in a number of different track and field events, with each performance going toward

4144-532: The 1860s, including a meet at Ashburnham Hall in London which featured four running events and a triple jump competition. The Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) was established in England in 1880 as the first national body for the sport of athletics and began holding its own annual athletics competition – the AAA Championships . The United States also began holding an annual national competition –

4256-410: The 2000 Summer Paralympics and the intellectual disability athletics programme was only restored twelve years later at the 2012 Summer Paralympics . Professional athletics almost exclusively takes place in one of three types of venue: stadiums , set courses on grass or woodland, and road-based courses. Such venues ensure that events take place in a relatively standardised manner, as well as improving

4368-674: The Boston Marathon (first held in 1897) and the Lake Biwa Marathon and Fukuoka Marathons , which were established in the 1940s. The 1970s running boom in the United States made road running a common pastime and also increased its popularity at the elite level. Ekiden contests – which originated in Japan and remain very popular there – are a relay race variation on the marathon, being in contrast to

4480-742: The Council, Honorary Members, and up to three delegates from each of the national member federations. Chairpersons and members of Committees, which manage specialist portfolios, are also elected by the Congress. There are four committees: the Cross Country Committee, the Race Walking Committee, the Technical Committee, and the Women's Committee. A further three committees were launched in 2019: Development, Governance and Competitions. The governance structure

4592-592: The Emsley Carr Mile in 2000, 2001 and 2002. In 1969 Sir William Carr decided not to continue sponsoring the race and the AAA took it over and continued until he died in 1977. Since 1977, Emsley Carr's grandson, William, has continued with the tradition and has kept the book up to date and has provided a glass piece, presented to the winner by a member of the Carr family. Athletics (sport) Athletics

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4704-541: The Gold Label category. Road running was the last sport governed by World Athletics to receive seasonal sanctioning. The 2010 season saw several changes to World Athletics' one-day governance. The World Athletics Tour was made defunct and replaced with three separate series: the 14-meet Diamond League as the top level of track meetings, the IAAF World Challenge as a second tier of track meetings, and

4816-669: The Golden League, IAAF Super Grand Prix , Grand Prix, Grand Prix II, and the IAAF World Athletics Final . The new final format was introduced with a new global performance ranking system for qualification and featured an increased programme of track and field events, mirroring the World Championships in Athletics programme bar the road events, combined events, relays, and the 10,000 metres . The final achieved gender parity in events in 2005, with

4928-630: The IAAF created a commission to regulate all ball games that were played by hand, including basketball and handball . Subsequently, the International Amateur Handball Federation was founded in 1928, and the International Basketball Federation was founded in 1932. Beginning in 1982, the IAAF passed several amendments to its rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for participating in international competitions. However,

5040-523: The Olympics, even among casual sports fans, but otherwise is less popular though it maintains a dedicate fan base. Big city marathons such as New York , Boston , Chicago , London and Tokyo are major televised events in their respective cities, and often attract thousands of entrants and tens of thousands of spectators, for whom the event is usually free as it takes place on normal city roads. A small number of half marathons and road mile races, including

5152-503: The United States). Historically, tracks were covered by a dirt running surface. Modern All-weather running tracks are covered by a synthetic weather-resistant running surface, which typically consists of rubber (either black SBR or colored EPDM granules), bound by polyurethane or latex resins. Older tracks may be cinder -covered. The facilities can be called track and field stadiums or athletics stadiums. A standard indoor track

5264-540: The World Athletics Championships. The commission chairperson and one other athlete of the opposite sex are given voting rights on the Council. The last election was held in October 2019 at the 2019 World Athletics Championships . Following doping and corruption issues, a Code of Ethics was agreed in 2013 and an Ethics Commission was appointed in 2014. The Council appoints the chairperson from

5376-530: The actual synthetic track surface, whilst Class 2 venues only ensures that the synthetic surface has a valid Product Certificate (from an accredited synthetic track surface manufacturer) and the facility conforms to the stringent requirements for accurate measurement contained in World Athletics Rules and Regulations. World Athletics organizes many major athletics competitions worldwide. World Athletics became involved in annual one-day meetings as

5488-525: The age of 30 onwards. As a result, numerous age categories have been created to encourage younger and older athletes to engage in competition. At international level, there are three major categories for young athletes: under-23 , under-20 (formerly junior), and under-18 (formerly youth). Beyond international rules, different youth categories are in use in the sport, often in the form of two-year or single age groupings. Age categories are more extensive for older athletes and these are commonly organised under

5600-665: The code through doping or impeding any anti-doping actions. Doping is still a serious issue in world athletics due to the increased use of banned substances by athletes to improve their athletic performance. To address the problem, athletes participating in sports are required to sign the World Anti-Doping Agency code and are subjected to random urine or blood samples testing, leading to penalties like game suspension, or lifetime ban for violating code. International level athletics competitions are mostly divided by sex and World Athletics applies eligibility rules for

5712-581: The competitions in athletics, and hosts the Paralympic Games , which have continued since 1960 . Competitors at elite level competitions, are classified by disability, to arrange athletes with a similar disability in the same event. A classified T12 athlete for example, is a track athlete with a visual impairment. Operating independently of the Paralympic movement, deaf athletes have a long-established tradition of organised athletics, with

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5824-472: The conduct to occur and must accept its responsibility" and that "corruption was embedded" in the organization. In January 2016, as a result of the doping scandal and WADA's report, the World Athletics' biggest sponsor, Adidas , announced that it was ending its sponsorship deal with the World Athletics four years early. The BBC reported that as a result World Athletics would lose $ 33 million (£23 million) worth of revenue. The 11-year sponsorship deal with Adidas

5936-513: The country's status would not change. The legal case was later dropped. World Athletics was the first international sporting body to suspend the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) from World Athletics starting in 2015, for eight years, due to doping violations, making it ineligible to host World Athletics events or send teams to international championships. However, Russian athletes were eligible to compete pursuant to

6048-447: The creation of numerous competitive categories, in order that athletes are pitted against rivals of a similar kind or ability, and to include groups of people who would otherwise not be competitive in open-to-all events. The eligibility of athletes for a given category is occasionally a source of controversy among the sport's participants, officials and spectators, with disputes typically being rooted in deliberate cheating in order to gain

6160-724: The creation of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge . The World Cross Challenge was disbanded in 2000 and cross country reverted to a permit format via the IAAF Cross Country Permit Meetings . The IAAF Race Walking Challenge was initiated in 2003 to provide a seasonal calendar for racewalking. World Athletics reformed its track and field circuit in 2003, with the IAAF World Outdoor Meetings series grouping five tiers of annual track and field competitions:

6272-406: The difficulty of determining the exact performance advantage provided by a given condition, and the moral risk of "gender-engineering" by setting a biological definition for a female athlete. Age is a significant determiner of ability to compete in athletics, with athletic ability generally increasing through childhood and adolescence, peaking in early adulthood, then gradually declining from around

6384-844: The distance running discipline, also forms a significant portion of a number of other organised sports, most notable the triathlon family of sports and modern pentathlon . In both cases, the rules of the sport broadly mirror those of World Athletics, but the details are set by the international federation of the sports themselves. Track and field competitions emerged in the late 19th century and were typically contested between athletes who were representing rival educational institutions , military organisations and sports clubs . Participating athletes may compete in one or more events, according to their specialities. Men and women compete separately. Track and field comes in both indoor and outdoor formats, with most indoor competitions occurring in winter , while outdoor events are mostly held in summer . The sport

6496-588: The division to raise questions of fairness in competition. The dispute reached new heights in 2019 with the United Nations Human Rights Council issuing a statement that the IAAF was breaching "international human rights norms and standards" through its practice of allowing some athletes to compete in the women's division only once they had lowered their testosterone levels through medical intervention. The IAAF and several prominent women athletes, such as Paula Radcliffe , said this

6608-429: The elected members, and in turn, the chairperson appoints a deputy chair. The Ethics Board's scope was limited in 2017 with the creation of the independent Athletics Integrity Unit , headed by Australia's Brett Clothier , to oversee ethical issues and complaints at arm's length. The International Athletics Foundation is a charity closely associated with World Athletics that engages in projects and programmes to develop

6720-417: The elite racers consistently beat the runners on foot. The speed of wheel chair racers has caused difficulties for race organisers in properly staggering their start times compared to runners. A collision between Josh Cassidy (a wheelchair racer) and Tiki Gelana (a leading female marathoner) at the 2013 London Marathon brought the issue into the spotlight again. Occasionally, athletes with a disability reach

6832-530: The end of 2018, which would allow the organisation to remain solvent in the face of delays to the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic . World Athletics Day is celebrated on 7 May. In 2022, World Athletics imposed sanctions against the Member Federations of Russia and Belarus because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine , and all athletes, support personnel, and officials from Russia and Belarus were excluded from all World Athletics Series events for

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6944-511: The first athlete to publicly fail the test in 1967 and the humiliation she suffered as a result of the announcement led to sex tests becoming a confidential process. Hurdler Maria José Martínez-Patiño failed a test and was disqualified in 1985, but publicly fought the ban in court and was reinstated in 1988. In 1991, the IAAF replaced the sex chromatin test with general medical tests for athletes of all divisions, due to changes in ethical and scientific viewpoints. The question of eligibility for

7056-580: The first international Stoke Mandeville Games were organized for World War II veterans. This only included athletes in a wheelchair . This inspired the first Paralympic Games , held in 1960. Competitions would over time be expanded to include mainly athletes with amputation , cerebral palsy and visual impairment , in addition to wheelchair events. World Athletics, the sport's governing body, defines athletics in six disciplines: track and field , road running , race walking , cross country running , mountain running , and trail running . Mountain running

7168-543: The first major world competition being included at the 1924 Deaflympics . The primary impediments to the inclusion of deaf athletes in mainstream athletics are sound based elements of the sport, such as the starter's pistol . This can be a disadvantage even in Paralympic sport, as shown in by the example of Olivia Breen who failed to hear a false start in a cerebral palsy class race at the 2012 Paralympics. In wheelchair racing athletes compete in lightweight racing chairs. Most major marathons have wheelchair divisions and

7280-451: The first team to finish. Hurdling events and the steeplechase are a variation upon the flat running theme in that athletes must clear obstacles on the track during the race. The field events come in two types – jumping and throwing competitions. In throwing events, athletes are measured by how far they hurl an implement, with the common events being the shot put , discus , javelin , and hammer throw . There are four common jumping events:

7392-607: The foreseeable future, and Russian athletes who had received ANA status for 2022 were excluded from World Athletics Series events for the foreseeable future. World Athletics Council also applied sanctions on the Belarus Athletic Federation , including banning its hosting of any international or European athletics events, representation at Congress or in decisions which require Congressional votes, involvement of its personnel in programs, and accreditation to attend any World Athletics Series events. World Athletics

7504-551: The foundation of clean athletes worldwide", and that its "independent commission will investigate the claims". Around the same time, the University of Tübingen in Germany claimed that World Athletics suppressed publication of a 2011 report in which "[h]undreds of athletes", as many as a third of the world's top athletes, "admitted violating anti-doping rules". On 1 November 2015, former World Athletics president Lamine Diack

7616-433: The governance of World Athletics. The International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) governs high-altitude mountain running, defined as skyrunning , and is affiliated with the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation rather than World Athletics. Competitive stair climbing events, usually hosted in skyscrapers , has two common names: vertical running (as described by the ISF) and tower running (as described by

7728-487: The grassroots of track and field. Road running competitions are running events (predominantly long distance) which are mainly conducted on courses of paved or tarmac roads , although major events often finish on the track of a main stadium . In addition to being a common recreational sport , the elite level of the sport – particularly marathon races  – are one of the most popular aspects of athletics. Road racing events can be of virtually any distance, but

7840-543: The inclusion of a women's 3000 metres steeplechase . The track and field circuit was rebranded as the IAAF World Athletics Tour in 2006, which removed the global rankings and the IAAF Grand Prix II (replaced with a level of meetings given permit status by continental governing bodies). With World Athletics having recognised the sport of mountain running in 2002, the annual WMRA World Cup meetings received official sanctioning in 2006, organised under World Mountain Running Association . The IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final

7952-644: The introduction of the metric system into the sport. Athletics competitions were held about 1812 at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , and in 1840 in Shrewsbury , Shropshire at the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich held an organised competition in 1849, and a regular series of closed meetings open only to undergraduates, was held by Exeter College, Oxford , from 1850. The annual Wenlock Olympian Games , first held in 1850 in Wenlock , England, incorporated athletics events into its sports programme. The first modern-style indoor athletics meetings were recorded shortly after in

8064-514: The men's division, the development of the women's division has caused regular dispute in terms of eligibility. Several intersex athletes had success in the women's division in the early 20th century, such as Stanisława Walasiewicz and Mary Weston (later Mark), and the IAAF responded by introducing sex verification for all athletes in the women's category, beginning with the disqualification of sprinter Foekje Dillema in 1950 after she refused to be tested. Olympic champion Ewa Kłobukowska became

8176-464: 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. The athletics meeting forms the backbone of

8288-481: The most common and well known are the marathon , half marathon , 10 km and 5 km . The marathon is the only road running event featured at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the Summer Olympics , although there is also an annual IAAF World Half Marathon Championships . The marathon is also the only road running event featured at the World Para Athletics Championships and

8400-544: The most prominent part of major athletics championships and many famous athletes within the sport of athletics come from this discipline. Discrete track and field competitions are found at national championships -level and also at annual, invitational track and field meets . Meetings range from elite competitions – such as those in the IAAF Diamond League series – to basic all comers track meets , inter-sports club meetings and schools events, which form

8512-507: The name to the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2001, moving away from its amateur origins, before taking on its current name World Athletics in 2019. The Comité International Sports des Sourds had been formed by 1922, to govern international deaf sports, including athletics. The first organized international competitions for athletes with a physical disability (not deaf) began in 1952, when

8624-452: The organisation had revenue of around US$ 200 million spread over a four-year Olympic cycle, with around a fifth of that revenue coming from Olympic broadcasting rights. The reports showed a deficit in each of the non-Olympic years of 2017 and 2018 of around US$ 20 million. It also showed heavy dependence on its partnership with Japanese marketing agency Dentsu , which made up half of 2018's revenue. It also highlighted reserves of US$ 45 million at

8736-618: The organization retained the word amateur in its name until its 2001 congress, at which it changed its name to the International Association of Athletics Federations. In June 2019 the organization chose to rebrand as World Athletics , with a rollout beginning after the 2019 World Championships in Doha . Following repeated requests, World Athletics became the last body within the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations to make public its financial reports in 2020. It revealed

8848-473: The race. Racewalking finds its roots in the sport of pedestrianism which emerged in the late 18th century in England. Spectators would gamble on the outcome of the walking competitions. The sport took on an endurance aspect and competitions were held over long distances or walkers would have to achieve a certain distance within a specified time frame, such as Centurion contests of walking 100 miles (160 km) within 24 hours. During this period, racewalking

8960-509: The results, Robin Parisotto, a scientist and leading "anti-doping" expert, said, "Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values. So many athletes appear to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen." Craig Reedie, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said his organisation was "very disturbed by these new allegations ... which will, once again, shake

9072-401: The rules on the basis that discrimination against the minority of DSD athletes was proportional as a method of preserving access to the female category to a much larger majority of women without DSDs. In 2023, World Athletics tightened their regulations further, excluding transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in the female category. The new regulations also reduced

9184-554: The safety of athletes and enjoyment for spectators. At a more basic level, many forms of athletics demand very little in terms of venue requirements; almost any open space or area of field can provide a suitable venue for basic running, jumping and throwing competitions. A standard outdoor track is in the shape of a stadium , 400 metres in length, and has at least eight lanes 1.22 m in width (small arenas might have six lanes). Older track facilities may have nonstandard track lengths, such as 440 yards (402.3 m; 1/4 mile) (common in

9296-418: The scholastic level, particularly in the United Kingdom and United States. At the professional level, the foremost competitions come under the banner of the IAAF Cross Country Permit Meetings . While cross country competitions are no longer held at the Olympics, having featured in the athletics programme from 1912 to 1924, it has been present as one of the events within the modern pentathlon competition since

9408-681: The second time the race was run, Roger Bannister had already broken the world record on 6 May 1954 at the annual athletics event between the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) and the University of Oxford at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford . Bannister never did run in the Emsley Carr Mile. The winners of the race sign the Emsley Carr Trophy, a red Moroccan leather-bound book, now running into

9520-465: The sport began to professionalise in the late 1970s. Between 1978 and 1982, World Athletics staged twelve Golden Events , all for men and principally in track running, which saw World Athletics offer prizes to encourage competition. Three years later in 1985, an annual track and field circuit was created in the form of the IAAF Grand Prix , which linked existing top-level one-day meetings with

9632-544: The sport. There have been six presidents since the establishment of World Athletics: Following World Athletics has a total of 214 member federations divided into 6 area associations. As of 1 November 2015: To allow athletes of different ages to compete against athletes of similar ability, several age categories are maintained. The open class of competition without age limit is defined as "senior". For younger athletes, World Athletics organises events for under-20 athletes (athletes aged 18 or 19 years on 31 December of

9744-647: The sport. Albert II, Prince of Monaco is the Honorary President and the role of IAF President is held by the World Athletics President. A World Athletics Heritage department was created in 2018 to maintain historic artifacts and display them through a physical gallery in Monaco, a virtual online gallery, and a traveling exhibition. The department also issues World Athletics Heritage Plaques to commemorate locations of historic interest to

9856-558: The term described athletic contests in general – i.e. sporting competition based primarily on human physical feats. In the 19th century, the term athletics acquired a more narrow definition in Europe and came to describe sports involving competitive running, walking, jumping and throwing. This definition continues to be prominent in the United Kingdom and the former British Empire . Related words in Germanic and Romance languages also have

9968-636: The testosterone limit for androgen-sensitive XY DSD athletes to 2.5 nmol/L and extended the limit to apply to all women's events, where it had previously only applied to track events of distances between 400m and one mile. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe described this as "decisive action to protect the female category in our sport". World Athletics provides approval certificates to venues of athletic facilities: Class 1, Class 2 and Indoor. To receive certification, venues are required to submit measurement reports of their track and field facilities. Class 1 venues are fully certified along with in-situ tests of

10080-460: The thirty-day meeting included running and stone-throwing among its sporting events. The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BC was a stadium-length running event known as the stadion . This later expanded to include throwing and jumping events within the ancient pentathlon . Athletics competitions also took place at other Panhellenic Games , which were founded later around 500 BC. The Cotswold Olympic Games ,

10192-529: The typical male range (7.7 to 29.4 nmol/L), and are androgen-sensitive so that their bodies make use of that testosterone. World Athletics requires any such athlete to reduce their blood testosterone level to 5 nmol/L or lower for a six-month period before becoming eligible for international competition. The rules have been challenged by affected athletes in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), though no athlete has done so successfully. In May 2019, CAS upheld

10304-691: The typically individual sport of road running. Cross country running is the most naturalistic of the sports in athletics as competitions take place on open-air courses over surfaces such as grass , woodland trails, and earth . It is both an individual and team sport , as runners are judged on an individual basis and a points scoring method is used for teams. Competitions are typically long distance races of 3 km (1.9 mi) or more which are usually held in autumn and winter. Cross country's most successful athletes often compete in long-distance track and road events as well. The Crick Run in England in 1838

10416-502: The umbrella of masters athletics , which has age groups spanning five years for all athletes aged 35 and above. There is no limit to the number of age groupings, hence Stanisław Kowalski holds a world record for men aged 105 years and over. For competitions where age is not taken into account, this is known as senior or open class athletics; in international rules there remain some restrictions on younger people competing in endurance events for health reasons . Athletes' eligibility for

10528-409: The women's category. World Athletics has regulations for intersex and transgender athletes. The differences of sex development (DSD) regulations apply to athletes who are legally female or intersex and have certain physiology . DSD athletes who are legally female or intersex are subject to specific rules if they have XY male chromosomes , testes rather than ovaries , circulating testosterone in

10640-416: The women's division continued to be a contentious and public issue into the 21st century, with Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand bearing periods of ineligibility and taking the IAAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over their bans under the hyperandrogenism rules. An increasing number of trans men and trans women began to compete in the women's division in the 2010s, which caused other athletes in

10752-553: The women's event was first held in 1992. The most common events in modern competition are over 10 km, 20 km and 50 km on roads, although women's 3 km and men's 5 km are held on indoor tracks. The highest level racewalking competitions occur at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and at the Summer Olympics, although the sport also has its own separate major competition –

10864-402: The world record for the mile: Walker, Ovett, Coe, El Guerrouj, Filbert Bayi , Derek Ibbotson and Jim Ryun . Ken Wood , a former Sheffield athlete, won the Emsley Carr Mile a record four times. The fastest time recorded for the event stands at 3:45.96 by El Guerrouj in 2000. It is the ninth fastest time ever recorded for the mile, and the fastest time recorded on British soil. El Guerrouj won

10976-510: The year of the competition) as well as under-18 athletes (athletes aged 16 or 17 years on 31 December of the year of the competition), historically referred to as "junior" and "youth" age groups, respectively. Age-group competitions over the age of 35 are organised by World Masters Athletics and are divided into five-year groupings. The organisation is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency 's World Anti-Doping Code and applies sanctions to athletes, coaches and other sportspeople who breach

11088-429: Was able to install two of his sons and a friend into positions that exerted influence over the IAAF. The report says that Lamine Diack "was responsible for organizing and enabling the conspiracy and corruption that took place in the IAAF." In 2018, Diack was handed an additional charge of "breach of trust" by French prosecutors. On 18 June 2020, the trial of Diack and five other people, including his son, concluded. Diack

11200-464: Was added in 2003 and trail running was added in 2015. All forms of athletics are individual sports with the exception of relay races . However, athletes' performances are often tallied together by country at international championships, and, in the case of cross country and road races, finishing positions or times of the top athletes from a team may be combined to declare a team victor. Several further forms of competitive running exist outside of

11312-464: Was appointed to the role in December 2018. Olivier Gers was the first person to officially hold the position in 2016, succeeding the interim CEO/General Secretary Jean Gracia . In order to give active athletes a voice in the governance of the sport, World Athletics created the Athletes' Commission. Athletes are elected to the commission by other athletes, typically held at the Congress attached to

11424-439: Was arrested in France and is under investigation on suspicion of corruption and money laundering. Diack allegedly accepted "$ 1.2 million from the Russian athletics federation to cover up the positive doping tests of at least six Russian athletes in 2011." The IOC provisionally suspended Diack, and he resigned his position as an IOC Honorary Member. In 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency reported that with his influence, Diack

11536-577: Was created in 2007 to serve as a seasonal final for the Race Walking Challenge. World Athletics designed a sanctioning process for the road running competitions in 2008, with races having to meet organisational requirements to achieve Gold or Silver status under the IAAF Road Race Label Events brand. This incorporated the World Marathon Majors (a privately run series for major marathons initiated in 2006) within

11648-495: Was disqualified by decision of the World Athletics Council for eight years for the creation of a doping system. World Athletics has since resisted demands that Russia be re-instated, on the basis that the country repeatedly failed to satisfy all the agreed criteria. The decision was supported by Sean Ingle of The Guardian who wrote in a column that World Athletics should maintain their ban on Russia through

11760-454: Was due to run until 2019. World-record holding sprinter Michael Johnson described the scandal as more serious than that faced by FIFA . In February 2016, Nestlé announced that it was ending its World Athletics sponsorship. In June 2016, following a meeting of the IAAF's ruling council, World Athletics upheld its ban on Russia's track and field team from entering the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In February 2017, All-Russia Athletic Federation

11872-479: Was frequently held on athletics tracks for ease of measurement, and the 1908 Summer Olympics in London saw the introduction of the 3500-metre and 10-mile walks. Racewalking was briefly dropped from the Olympic programme in 1928 , but the men's 50 kilometres race walk has been held at every Olympic Games but one since 1932. The men's 20 kilometres race walk was added to the Olympic athletics schedule in 1956 and

11984-425: Was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and it has been as one of the foremost competitions at the quadrennial multi-sport event ever since. Originally for men only, the 1928 Olympics saw the introduction of women's events in the athletics programme. Athletics is part of the Paralympic Games since the inaugural Games in 1960 . Athletics has a very high-profile during major championships, especially

12096-627: Was introduced as a replacement of the Indoor Permit Meetings series. The track and field circuit is due for further changes in 2020, including an increase in the number of Diamond League meetings, the reduction of Diamond League events from 32 to 24, reduction of the Diamond League television running time to 90 minutes, the creation of a one-day Diamond League final, and the relaunch of the World Challenge series as

12208-409: Was required in order to prevent a situation where countries deliberately sought out athletes who were intersex, transgender or had a difference in sex development in order to succeed in women's sport. Others have argued for the abolition of gender verification testing, with academic Maren Behrensen citing the harm to tested athletes' social and emotional well-being, the inaccuracy of the medical tests,

12320-399: Was sentenced to jail for four years, two of them suspended. In November 2015, WADA published its report, which found "systemic failures" in the World Athletics had prevented an "effective" anti-doping programme and concluded that Russia should be banned from competing in international competitions because of its athletes' test results. The report continued that "the World Athletics allowed

12432-400: Was started in 2023. In 2015, a whistleblower leaked World Athletics' blood test records from major competitions. The records revealed that, between 2001 and 2012, athletes with suspicious drug test results won a third of the medals in endurance events at the Olympics and World Championships—a total of 146 medals including 55 golds—but the World Athletics caught none of them. After reviewing

12544-688: Was the first recorded instance of an organised cross country competition. The sport gained popularity in British, then American schools in the 19th century and culminated in the creation of the first International Cross Country Championships in 1903. The annual IAAF World Cross Country Championships was inaugurated in 1973 and this remains the highest level of competition for the sport. A number of continental cross country competitions are held, with championships taking place in Asia , Europe , North America and South America . The sport has retained its status at

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