Athletics

Rules

Shortest event at major indoor tournaments		60m
One circuit of a modern (outdoor) running track		400m
Colloquially known as 'the metric mile'		1500m
Longest event for which the IAAF recognises a world record		30km
Maximum number of attempts that each competitor gets at each height, in both the high jump and pole vault		3
Hurdles in a race (men's or women's, 110m or 400m)		10
Number of complete laps in the 3,000m steeplechase (each obstacle – 4 ordinary, 1 water jump – is jumped once per lap)		7
Maximum wind speed for a result to be registered as a record (in events such as 100m and 200m sprints, 110m and 220m hurdles, long jump and triple jump)		2 metres per second

Weights

These are the weights for professsional (or open) international competition. If in doubt (when setting questions), you can always refer to the Olympics.

		Men		Women
Discus		2 kg (4.4 lbs)		1 kg (2.2 lbs)
Hammer		7.26 kg (16.1 lbs)		4 kg (8.8 lbs)
Javelin		800g (28 oz)		600g (21 oz)
Shot put		7.26 kg (16.1 lbs)		4 kg (8.8 lbs)

Events (etc.)

Annual event held in Oslo on 2 June, named after the stadium it's held in		Bislett Games
Famous mile race run annually at the Bislett Games, Oslo (suspended 2004); Steve Ovett and Steve Cram both broke the world record in it		Dream Mile
The Great North Run (an annual half–marathon) begins in Newcastle–upon–Tyne and ends in (town)		South Shields

Scissors, eastern cut–off, western roll and straddle are all techniques formerly used in		High jump
Men's record held by Jesse Owens 1935–60, Bob Beamon 1968–91, Mike Powell 1991–(2020) – all USA; women's record held by Galina Chistyakova (USSR, Slovakia), 1988–(2020)		Long jump
Kate Staples (better known as gladiator Zodiac): UK & Commonwealth women's champion at		Pole vault
Planting box: used in		Pole vault
The "glide" or "shift" (introduced in 1951 by the US athlete Parry O'Brien) and the "spin" (introduced in 1972 by the Soviet athlete Aleksandr Baryshnikov) are the two alternative techniques used in		Shot put
Staged at the World Athletics Championships for the first time in Qatar, 2019 – won by the USA		Mixed 4 x 400m relay

Multi–discipline events

Decathlon

There are four Track events and six Field events. Each day starts and ends with a Track event, with three Field events in between.

Day 1		100 metres		Long jump		Shot put		High jump		400 metres
Day 2		110m hurdles		Discus		Pole vault		Javelin		1500 metres

(Women's) heptathlon

Women's equivalent of the men's Decathlon (multi–disciplined event contested over two days)		Heptathlon
The two events that were added to the pentathlon to make the heptathlon (for the 1984 Olympics)		Javelin
		800m

There are three Track events and four Field events. There are four events on Day 1 and three on Day 2.

Day 1		100m hurdles		High jump		Shot put		200 metres
Day 2		Long jump		Javelin		800 metres

(Note: men contest an indoor heptathlon.)

The Marathon

Marathon distance		26 miles 385 yards
Marathon distance in metres		42,195
Marathon distance in the 1896 (and 1904) Olympics		40 km (24 miles 1496 yards)

The distance of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 km) was first used at the 1908 Olympic games, but contrary to popular belief the British royal family had very little influence.

The race was organised by the Polytechnic Harriers (the athletics club of the Regent Street Polytechnic – now the University of Westminster) and the distance was originally intended to be 25 miles (just over 40 km), from Windsor Castle to White City. The start was moved to a private part of the castle, so that the public would not interfere (not at the request of Princess Alexandra); the route was changed slightly, to cross Wormwood Scrubs, in order to avoid cobbles and tram lines; and the route into the stadium was changed because the originally planned entrance was found to be unsuitable (not at the insistence of Edward VII). The race caught the public imagination, and was described by one American journalist as "the race of the century", after Italy's Dorando Pietri finished first but was disqualified for receiving assistance as he staggered the last few yards around the stadium. Following this success, the Sporting Life newspaper asked the Poly Harriers to organise an annual race and offered a magnificent trophy. The famous Polytechnic Marathon ("the Poly") was staged annually from 1909 (until 1996); it used the same course (and hence the same distance) as the 1908 Olympic race.

The 1912 and 1920 Olympics used different distances, but in 1921 the IAAF agreed to standardise on the 1908 distance – again, the huge popular success of that race was a major factor.

World Marathon Majors

This is a championship–style competition for marathon runners, which started in 2006. There are eight races in the series, six of which are run every year. Three of the six annual World Marathon Majors are run in the USA. The six races are (in alphabetical order):

Berlin

Boston

Chicago

London

New York

Tokyo

The other two races in the series are the IAAF World Championships marathon (run every other year) and the Olympic marathon (run every four years – as if you didn't know).

The London Marathon

Tied for first place in the men's race, in the inaugural London Marathon (1981)	USA		Dick Beardsley
	Norway		Inge Simonsen

Beardsley and Simonsen tied deliberately, holding hands as they crossed the finish line.

English winner of the women's race, in the first two London Marathons (1981 and 1982)		Joyce Smith
First British winner of the men's race in the London Marathon (1982)		Hugh Jones
Norwegian runner: the only four–time winner of the London Marathon (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988); three men and two other women have won it three times		Ingrid Kristiansen

Sponsors of the London Marathon

1981–3		Gillette
1984–8		Mars
1985–92		ADT
1993–5		Nutrasweet
1996–2009		Flora
Since 2010 (contracted until 2017)		Virgin Money

The First Four–Minute Mile

Roger Bannister ran the first sub–four–minute mile at	Track		Iffley Road
	City		Oxford
Date			6 May 1954
Roger Bannister's time for the first sub–four–minute mile			3 minutes 59.4 seconds
The number on his vest			41
Bannister's two 'pacemakers'			Chris Brasher
			Christopher Chataway

Athletes

Set a British record for the 400 metres hurdles, in winning bronze at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 – which still stands (July 2020)		Kriss Akabusi
Moroccan runner who dominated middle distance running (500m to 5000m) between 1983 and 1990 – winning 115 of his 119 races		Said Aouita
Ethiopian athlete, Olympic marathon winner 1960 and 1964; left hemiplegic following a road accident in 1969, died 1973 aged 51. Award named in his honour by the New York Road Runners first awarded 1978, won in 2006 by Paula Radcliffe		Abebe Bikila
Jamaican sprinter who in 2012 recorded the joint second fastest time for the 100m, along with Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay		Yohan Blake
Broke Jesse Owens's world long jump record, set in 1935, in 1960, and five more times by 1965		Ralph Boston
Ukrainian pole vaulter: won gold at every World Athletics Championships, 1983–97, but only one Olympic medal (Seoul, 1988); broke the world record 35 times, 1984–94, raising it from 5.83m to 6.14m, 1984–94; retired in 2001; his record stood until 2014		Sergey Bubka
Jamaican sprinter: disqualified from the 2008 Olympics in 2017 after failing a retrospective drug test, causing Usain Bolt to lose one of his nine gold medals		Nesta Carter
First European to run 100m in under 10 seconds (1988; see Jim Hines, Carl Lewis)		Linford Christie
Australian runner: held eleven world records, including six simultaneously (1965), but never won Olympic gold		Ron Clarke
First to run the 1500 metres in less than 3.5 minutes		Steve Cram
Runner–up to Sebastian Coe in the 1984 Olympic 1500m
Britain's only gold medallist at the first World Championships (Helsinki, 1991 – 1,500 metres)
British athlete: broke the world triple jump record three times in 1995 (his record of 18.29 metres still stood in 2024)		Jonathan Edwards
Moroccan athlete, described as the greatest of all time: set world records in the 1500m, 2,000m and mile, 1998–9 – all of which still stood in 2017; also won Olympic gold in the 1500m and 5,000m at Athens (2004); retired in 2006		Hicham El Guerrouj
US (female) sprinter: won Olympic gold in the 4 x 400m relay in Beijing, and in both relays at both London and Rio; also won 200m gold in London, and silvers in the individual 200m in Athens and Beijing, and the 400m in Rio (total 6 golds and 3 silvers); also 11 World Championship golds		Allyson Felix
US athlete (from Portland, Oregon) who revolutionised the high jump in 1968 when he revealed, at the Mexico City Olympics, the jumping style that was immediately named after him		Dick Fosbury
First Indigenous Australian to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal (Auckland, 1990 – 4 x 100m relay), and the first to win an individual Olympic gold (Sydney, 2000 – when she also lit the flame – 400m)		Cathy Freeman
US sprinter: banned for two years in 2002 after testing positive for a banned substance (reduced on appeal to one year), and for four years in 2006 for the same reason; Olympic 100m champion in 2004, and thus the last to win the title before Usain Bolt; also won bronze in 2012 and silver in 2016; world champion in 100m and 200m in 2005		Justin Gatlin
US sprinter: ran the 100m in 9.69 seconds in 2009, making him the world's second fastest man (behind Usain Bolt) – a time equalled by Yohan Blake in 2012, and also by Bolt himself; banned for 12 months, and stripped of his 2012 Olympic silver medal, in 2013 after testing positive for a banned substance; was a member of the US 4 x 100m team that finished 3rd at Rio in 2016, but was denied a medal because of a violation by the above		Tyson Gay
US athlete: set world records for the women's 100m and 200m, in 1988, which still stand (2024); won three gold medals (100m, 200m, 4 x 100m) at the Seoul Olympics (1988), then abruptly retired, aged 28; died in her sleep, of an epileptic seizure, in 1998, aged 38		Florence Griffith–Joyner
First to run 100m in less than 10 seconds (9.95 – 20 June 1968, at altitude)		Jim Hines (USA)
German decathlete, famous for his rivalry with Daley Thompson in the 1980s		Jurgen Hingsen
Huddersfield–born runner: broke John Landy's world mile record in 1957 (another Australian, Herb Elliott, broke his record in 1958); first to run a mile in exactly four minutes (also 1958); subject of the 1960 biography The Four Minute Smiler		Derek Ibbotson
US runner: held both the 200m and 400m world records, 1999–2008 (the 200m record was broken by Usain Bolt, the 400m record by Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa in 2016)		Michael Johnson
Famously wore a pair of gold–coloured Nike running shoes, weighing 3 ounces (around 90 grams), at the Atlanta Olympics (1996), when he won both the 200m and 400m
British heptathlete: World Indoor and Commonwealth Games champion, 2018; European Indoor and World (Outdoor) Champion, 2019		Katarina Johnson–Thompson
Welsh RAF aircraft technician: set a world record in the Chicago Marathon, 1984 – his first completed marathon. (The record was broken less than a year later)		Steve Jones
Kenyan athlete: set a world record for the marathon in the Berlin Marathon, September 2018, and in October 2019 became the first person to run a marathon distance in less than two hours (but not in an officially recognised race)		Eliud Kipchoge
Kenyan–born athlete, representing Denmark; broke Seb Coe's 800m world record, set in 1981, in 1997 – stood until 2010		Wilson Kipketer
East German athlete, ran the 400m in 47.60 seconds in 1985 – a time that still stands in 2022 as the women's world record		Marita Koch
Australian athlete, ran the second four–minute mile – broke Roger Bannister's record, 46 days after it was set		John Landy
First woman to run a mile in under five minutes (1954 – 23 days after Bannister's first sub–4–minute mile) – born Streetly, near Walsall, Staffordshire; died in 2018, aged 85		Diane Leather
French sprinter: the first Caucasian man to run 100m in under 10 seconds (2010; see Jim Hines, Carl Lewis)		Christophe Lemaitre
First to run 100m in under 10 seconds, at low altitude (1983)		Carl Lewis
The third British athlete to win gold at the World Championships (after Steve Cram and Fatima Whitbread), and the first British woman to do so in a field event (at the third event, Tokyo 1991)		Liz McColgan
British runner, broke the men's 5,000m world record by 5 seconds in 1982; the last non–African runner to hold it (broken by Saïd Aouita of Morocco, in 1985); Chief Executive of UK Athletics, 1997–2007		David Moorcroft
American hurdler, won 122 consecutive 400m races, 1977–87		Ed Moses
One of the original 'Flying Finns' – won 9 Olympic gold medals: 3 at Antwerp in 1920, 5 at Paris in 1924, 1 at Amsterdam in 1928		Paavo Nurmi
Jamaican sprinter (b. 1960), won 9 Olympic medals (3 silver, 6 bronze – 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay), 1980–2000. Also represented Slovenia at the 2004 Olympics, breaking the record of 6 Olympiads set by Tessa Sanderson et al		Merlene Ottey
Broke five world records, and equalled a sixth, all in one hour – 25 May 1935; the long jump record wasn't beaten until 1960 (see Ralph Boston)		Jesse Owens
English marathon runner who failed to finish in the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, having entered the stadium in first place – 17 minutes ahead of the next competitor		Jim Peters
Lynn Davies's coach when he won the 1964 Olympic Long Jump gold		Ron Pickering
Broke Bob Beamon's world long jump record of 8.90 m (29 ft 2½ in), set at altitude in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, in 1991 with 8.95 m (29 ft 4¼ in) – a record that still stands (in 2015)		Mike Powell
Won the London Marathon in 2002, in her first race at the distance and in a world record time for a women–only race (second quickest marathon by a woman overall); won it again in 2003, in a women's world record time for a mixed race; set a slightly slower world record time for a women–only race in 2005, in winning the London Marathon for a third time (the women only record was broken in 2017, and the mixed race record in 2019)		Paula Radcliffe
New Zealand athlete: the only male since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics (Tokyo, 1964); previously won the 800m at Rome, 1960; died in 2019, aged 80		Peter Snell
Cuban high jumper: first set a world record in 1988; as of March 2020 his third world record jump of 2.45 metres (8 ft 0.5 in), set in 1993, still stands and he's still the only man to clear eight feet		Javier Sotomayor
The first male athlete, in any event, to hold the World, Olympic and Commonwealth Games records at the same time		Daley Thompson
New Zealand athlete: first to run a mile in less than 3 minutes 50 seconds; won the 1500 metres at the 1976 Olympics (Montreal); knighted in 2009 for services to sport and the community		John Walker
The first female British athlete to win gold at the World Championships (the second event, Rome 1987)		Fatima Whitbread
Czech javelin thrower: Olympic champion 1992, 1996 and 2000; as of 2017, still had the four longest javelin throws, all made between 1993 and 1997, including the world record of 98.48 m (set in Jena in 1996)		Jan Železný

British champions simultaneously at Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European levels:

1983–7, men's decathlon: Olympic champion 1980 and 1984, European champion 1982 and 1986, Commonwealth champion 1978, 1982 and 1986, World Champion 1983 (men's decathlon)		Daley Thompson
1993–6, men's 100m: European champion 1986, 1990 and 1994, Commonwealth champion 1990 and 1994, Olympic champion 1992, World Champion 1993 (men's 100m)		Linford Christie
1994–6, women's 400m hurdles: Commonwealth champion 1990 and 1994, Olympic champion 1992, World Champion 1993, European champion 1994		Sally Gunnell
2002, men's triple jump: European champion 1998, Olympic champion 2000, World Champion 2001, Commonwealth champion 2002		Jonathan Edwards
2015–6, men's long jump: Olympic champion 2012, European champion 2014 and 2016, Commonwealth champion 2014, World Champion 2015		Greg Rutherford

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24