Track And Field Events

Track and field events are a collection of sports mainly involved in the area of athletics. The term comes from the Greek work athlon meaning “contest”. A history of track and field events shows us that competition and exercise is as old as civilization itself. The Olympics stretch as far back as ancient Greece, showing that track and field events have always been watched with much anticipation. The modern history of track & field events, specifically as regards the Olympics, dated back to the 19th century. Field / track events history reveals that there were several claims in the early 1800's of academies and colleges incorporating regular sports and exercise into school regimes. The first organized and documented Olympics competition took place in 1896. What kind of different track and field events are there today in modern times?

Popular Track And Field Events

For starters, there are two seasons for track and field: an indoor season that takes place in Winter and an outdoor season that happens in the spring and summer months. Indoor tracks are about 200 meters and 4-6 lanes. Indoor tracks sometimes have banked turns to make up for the tight bends. In indoor field events, you can expect to see activities such as the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and shot put. There is also the Pentathlon and Heptathlon for multi-athletes. The outdoor track and field experience involves a large 400 meter oval track, usually made with rubberized surface, though sometimes dirt or cinders can be used. Tracks have 6-10 lanes, including a steeplechase lane, and the track usually surrounds a playing field that will be used for football, soccer or lacrosse. Outdoor track / field events see more games like javelin, hammer and discus throws.

All Track And Field Events

All events of track and field relate to running, throwing and jumping. There are various races, including races of unusual length like 300 m to a mile-long run. Imperial distances are usually not run on the track anymore and record keeping for these distances have been discontinued. The International Association of Athletics Federations still maintains a record book, including the mile-long world record. All track / field events include: running events like sprints, middle distance runs, steeplechases, long distance runs, hurdling, relays, distance and sprint medley relays, road running and race walking; field throwing events such as shot put, hammer throws, javelin throws, discus throws; field jumping events like the high jump, pole vaulting, long jumping, triple jumping, standing jumps; and multi-events such as the Pentathlon, Heptathlon and Decathlon. Many of these track and field event activities make their way into high school track and field events, and some high school track or field events see male and female students running the same races due to time constraints.

For more information on training for track and field events visit the USA Track And Field organization website. For funny track and field events or pictures of track and field events visit Track And Field Photo, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting this ancient and beloved sport.