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...)

First Chicago Marathon, in 1905

The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest race by number of finishers worldwide.

Annual Chicago marathons were held from 1905 to the 1920s, but the first race in the present series occurred on September 25, 1977, under the original name the Mayor Daley Marathon, which drew a field of 4,200 runners. The race has been held every year since, except in 1987 when only a half-marathon was run, and in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It became among the fastest-growing modern-marathon road races in the world, due in part to its largely fast and flat course which facilitates the pursuit of personal records and world record performances. The race has achieved its elite status among marathons by developing relationships with sponsors who provide prize money to lure elite runners who have produced American and world record performances. Since 2008, the race has been owned and organized by Bank of America, and is officially known as the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. (Full article...)

7 February:

• Salvatore Antibo, Italian distance runner
• Trey Hardee, American decathlete
• Vladimir Kuts, Soviet distance runner
• Vasily Kuznetsov, Soviet decathlete
• Daniel Sangouma, French sprinter
• Song Aimin, Chinese discus thrower
• Luketz Swartbooi, Namibian distance runner

• ... that Erica Larson, a chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, won the Pikes Peak mountain marathon five times in six years between 1999 and 2004, more than any other woman in the event's history?
• ... that all four deaths in the thirty annual Chicago Marathons have occurred in the last ten years?
• ... that wind assistance has caused the non-ratification of many potential world records in athletics?
• ... that Patrick Ivuti's photo finish victory in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, one of the five major marathons, was his first marathon victory?

Kipketer in 2010

Wilson Kosgei Kipketer (born 12 December 1972) is a Danish former middle distance runner. He is the second fastest of all time over 800 meters, setting the world record and breaking his own record two more times all in 1997. He dominated the 800 m distance for a decade, remaining undefeated for a three-year period and running 8 of the 17 currently all-time fastest times. He won gold medals in three successive editions of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Though unable to compete in the 1996 Olympics near the peak of his career, he earned silver in 2000 and bronze in 2004. Kipketer's 800 meters world record stood for almost 13 years. It was surpassed on 22 August 2010, when David Rudisha beat it by 0.02 seconds, running 1:41.09. Rudisha would eventually go on to further lower the 800m world record to the first and only sub one minute 41 second run. Kipketer still currently holds the indoor world record for the 800 metres.

Kipketer represented both Sparta and KIF during his running career. (Full article...)

• ... that every competitor at the 2021 British Athletics Marathon and 20km Walk Trial received a commemorative bonsai tree?
• ... that for the first time this century, this year's British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television?
• ... that at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships, Lorraine Ugen equalled the championship long jump record?
• ... that during the women's marathon at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics, one runner fell out of medal contention when she stopped for a toilet break?
• ... that Oakland Athletics fans coined the chant "I believe in Stephen Vogt!", inspired by a similar U.S. men's national soccer team chant?
• ... that when a spectator tried to help Australia's first Olympian Edwin Flack after he collapsed during the 1896 marathon event, the athlete punched him to the ground?
• ... that pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw won her eighth national title at the 2020 British Athletics Championships?
• ... that the men's marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships started just before midnight?

• WikiProject Athletics
• WikiProject Sports

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