Editing Track and field (section)

==History==
{{See also|Sport of athletics#History|l1=History of athletics|History of sport}}
[[File:Panathenaic amphora Kleophrades Louvre F277.jpg|thumb|An [[ancient Greece]] vase from 600&nbsp;BC depicting a running contest]]
[[File:DETROIT ATHLETIC CLUB-1888.jpg|thumb|An early model of [[hurdling]] at the [[Detroit Athletic Club]] in 1888]]
[[File:1906 Athens stadium.jpg|thumb|[[Panathenaic Stadium]] in [[Athens]], one of the first modern track and field stadiums]]
[[File:Jim Thorpe 1912b.jpg|thumb|American athlete [[Jim Thorpe]] lost his [[Olympic medal]]s after taking expense money prior to the [[1912 Summer Olympics]] for playing [[baseball]], a violation of [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] [[amateurism]] rules.]]
[[File:CarlLewis.jpg|thumb|[[Carl Lewis]], one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile]]
The sport of track and field has [[prehistory|prehistoric]] roots, being among the oldest of sporting [[competition]]s, as running, jumping and throwing are natural and universal human physical expressions. The first recorded examples of organized track and field events are the [[Ancient Olympic]] include further running competitions, but the introduction of the [[Ancient Olympic pentathlon]] marked a step towards track and field as it is recognized today—it comprised a five-event competition of the [[long jump]], [[javelin throw]], [[discus throw]], stadion footrace,<ref name=Instone>Instone, Stephen (15 November 2009). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greek_olympics_01.shtml#two The Olympics: Ancient versus Modern] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202064634/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greek_olympics_01.shtml#two |date=2 December 2019 }}. [[BBC]]. Retrieved on 23 March 2010.</ref> and [[amateur wrestling|wrestling]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/pentathlon.html |title=Ancient Olympic Events; Pentathlon |publisher=Perseus digital library |access-date=3 August 2009 |archive-date=20 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320232951/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/pentathlon.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Waldo E. Sweet, Erich Segal (1987). ''Sport and recreation in ancient Greece''. [[Oxford University Press]]. p. 37. {{ISBN|0195041267}}.</ref>

Track and field events were also present at the [[Panhellenic Games]] in Greece around this period, and they spread to Rome in Italy around 201 BC.<ref>Jean-Paul Thuillier, ''Le sport dans la Rome antique'' {{in lang|fr}}, Paris, Errance, 1996, pp. 115–116, {{ISBN|2-87772-114-0}}</ref><ref>"[https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Documents/Document-Set-Teachers-The-Main-Olympic-Topics/The-Olympic-Games-in-Antiquity.pdf The Olympic Games in Antiquity]", The Olympic Museum. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919085023/https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Documents/Document-Set-Teachers-The-Main-Olympic-Topics/The-Olympic-Games-in-Antiquity.pdf |date=19 September 2016 }} Retrieved 22 July 2019.</ref> In the [[Middle Ages]], new track and field events began developing in parts of Northern Europe. The [[stone put]] and [[weight throw]] competitions popular among [[Celts|Celtic]] societies in Ireland and Scotland were precursors to the modern [[shot put]] and [[hammer throw]] events. One of the last track and field events to develop was the [[pole vault]], which stemmed from competitions such as [[fierljeppen]] in [[North European Plain|North European Lowlands]] in the 18th century.

Discrete track and field competitions, separate from general [[Multi-sport event|sporting festivals]], were first recorded in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=High Jump (c. 1900) |url=https://springfieldcollege.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15370coll2/id/3304/ |access-date=3 February 2024 |website=Springfield College Digital Collections |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240215021813/https://springfieldcollege.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15370coll2/id/3304/ |archive-date=15 February 2024 }}</ref> These were typically organised among rival [[educational institution]]s, [[military organisation]]s and [[sports club]]s.<ref name=IAAFintro>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.iaaf.org/aboutiaaf/history/index.html |title=History – Introduction |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501210531/http://www.iaaf.org/aboutiaaf/history/index.html|archive-date=1 May 2010 |website= [[IAAF]] |access-date=25 March 2010}}</ref> Influenced by a [[Classics]]-rich curriculum, competitions in the English [[public school (United Kingdom)|public school]]s were conceived as human equivalents of [[horse racing]], [[fox hunting]] and [[hare coursing]]. The [[Shrewsbury School|Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt]] is the oldest running club in the world, with written records going back to 1831 and evidence that it was established by 1819.<ref name=Robinson>{{cite journal |title=On the Scent of History |journal=Running Times |date=December 1998 |page=28 |author=Robinson, Roger}}</ref> The school organised [[Paper Chase (game)|Paper Chase]] races in which runners followed a trail of paper shreds left by two "foxes";<ref name=Robinson/> even today RSSH runners are called "hounds" and a race victory is a "kill".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/history-tucks |title=History of The Tucks |publisher=Shrewsbury School |year=2011 |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=22 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722010632/https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/history-tucks |url-status=live }}</ref> The first definite record of Shrewsbury's cross-country Annual [[Steeplechase (athletics)|Steeplechase]] is in 1834, making it the oldest running race of the modern era.<ref name=Robinson/> The school also lays claim to the oldest track and field meeting still extant, the Second Spring Meeting first documented in 1840.<ref name=Robinson/> This featured a series of throwing and jumping events with mock horse races including the Derby Stakes, the Hurdle Race and the Trial Stakes. Runners were entered by "owners" and named as though they were horses.<ref name=Robinson/> {{convert|13|mi|km}} away and a decade later, the first [[Wenlock Olympian Games]] were held at [[Much Wenlock]] racecourse in 1851. It included a "half-mile foot race" (805&nbsp;m) and a "leaping in distance" competition.<ref>{{cite news |date=24 June 2011 |title=New film uncovers secrets of Shropshire's Olympian heritage |publisher=Shropshire County Council |url=https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/2011/06/new-film-uncovers-secrets-of-shropshires-olympian-heritage/ |url-status=live |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722005120/https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/2011/06/new-film-uncovers-secrets-of-shropshires-olympian-heritage/ |archive-date=22 July 2019}}</ref><ref name=Wenlock>{{cite web |url=http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/history/first-wenlock-olympian-games/ |publisher=Wenlock Olympian Society |title=The First Wenlock Olympian Games |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307200553/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/history/first-wenlock-olympian-games/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The first athletics clubs in the world were founded at the [[University of Cambridge]] in 1857,<ref>{{Cite web |title=CUAC {{!}} Cambridge Univeristy Athletic Club |url=https://www.cuac.org.uk/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=CUAC |language=en}}</ref> and the [[University of Oxford]] in 1860.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.ouac.org/home |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=www.ouac.org |language=en}}</ref> The [[London Athletic Club]] became the first independent athletic club in 1863.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_HISTORY_OF_AMERICAN_AMATEUR_ATHLETICS/j2p68grSMFoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA75&printsec=frontcover |title=A HISTORY OF AMERICAN AMATEUR ATHLETICS AND AQUATICS |date=1888 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Travers |first=Nicholas |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Victorian_Britain_Day_by_Day/cVMgEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT89&printsec=frontcover |title=Victorian Britain Day by Day |date=2024-07-30 |publisher=Pen and Sword History |isbn=978-1-3990-4177-5 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1865, Dr [[William Penny Brookes]] of Wenlock helped set up the [[National Olympian Association]], which held their first Olympian Games in 1866 at the [[The Crystal Palace|Crystal Palace]] in London.<ref name=Wenlock/> This national event was a great success, attracting a crowd of over ten thousand people.<ref name=Wenlock/> In response, the Amateur Athletic Club was formed that same year and held a championship for "gentlemen amateurs" in an attempt to reclaim the sport for the educated elite.<ref name=Wenlock/> Ultimately the "allcomers" ethos of the NOA won through and in 1880 the AAC was reconstituted as the [[Amateur Athletic Association]], the first national body for the [[sport of athletics]]. The [[AAA Championships]], the ''de facto'' British national championships despite being for England only, have been held annually since July 1880 with breaks only during two world wars and 2006–2008.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.iaaf.org/news/news/historic-amateur-athletics-association-aaa-ch |title=Historic Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) Championships to be revived |publisher=IAAF |author=Effard, Tracy |date=17 December 2008 |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=22 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722005126/https://www.iaaf.org/news/news/historic-amateur-athletics-association-aaa-ch |url-status=live }}</ref> The AAA was effectively a global governing body in the early years of the sport, helping to codify its rules.

Meanwhile, the [[New York Athletic Club]] in 1876 began holding an annual national competition, the [[USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships]].<ref name=Champs>{{cite news|url=https://trackandfieldnews.com/united-states-national-championships-introduction/|title=The United States' National Championships In Track & Field Athletics: Introduction|work=[[Track and Field News]]|access-date=22 July 2019|archive-date=28 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628122950/https://trackandfieldnews.com/united-states-national-championships-introduction/|url-status=live}}</ref> The establishment of general sports governing bodies for the United States (the [[Amateur Athletic Union]] in 1888) and France (the [[Union des sociétés françaises de sports athlétiques]] in 1889) put the sport on a formal footing and made international competitions possible.

The revival of the [[Olympic Games]] at the end of the 19th century marked a new high for track and field. The [[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic athletics programme]], comprising track and field events plus a [[marathon]], contained many of the foremost sporting competitions of the [[1896 Summer Olympics]]. The Olympics also consolidated the use of [[Metric system|metric measurement]]s in international track and field events, both for race distances and for measuring jumps and throws. The Olympic athletics programme greatly expanded over the next decades, and track and field remained among its most prominent contests. The Olympics was the elite competition for track and field, only open to [[amateur sports]]men. Track and field continued to be a largely amateur sport, as this rule was strictly enforced: [[Jim Thorpe]] was stripped of his track and field medals from the [[Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics|1912 Olympics]] after it was revealed that he had taken expense money for playing baseball, violating Olympic [[amateurism]] rules. His medals were reinstated 29 years after his death.<ref>Flatter, Ron. [https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016499.html Thorpe preceded Deion, Bo] . [[ESPN]] (1999). Retrieved 22 July 2019.</ref>

That same year, the [[International Amateur Athletic Federation]] (IAAF) was established as the [[List of international sport federations|international governing body]] for track and field, and it enshrined amateurism as a founding principle for the sport. The [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] held their first [[NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship|Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship]] in 1921, making it one of the most prestigious competitions for students. In 1923 track and field featured at the inaugural [[World Student Games]].<ref>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/bm/wsg.htm World Student Games] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312111639/http://www.gbrathletics.com/bm/wsg.htm |date=12 March 2017 }}. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 22 July 2019.</ref> The first continental track and field competition was the [[1919 South American Championships in Athletics|1919 South American Championships]], followed by the [[European Athletics Championships]] in 1934.<ref>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/sac.htm South American Championships] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920140645/http://gbrathletics.com/ic/sac.htm |date=20 September 2018 }}. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 22 July 2019.</ref>

Until the early 1920s, track and field was almost an exclusively male pursuit. Many colleges required women to participate in walking events. Walking was considered to be a primarily female sport. In the late 1800s it was still incredibly rare to find women in the gym, as this was considered a masculine activity. On 9 November 1895, the first women's track meet in the United States was held and it was called "a field day".<ref>Tricard, Louise Mead. American women's track and field: A history, 1895 through 1980. Vol. 1. McFarland, 1996.</ref> [[Alice Milliat]] argued for the inclusion of women at the Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee refused. She founded the [[International Women's Sports Federation]] in 1921 and, alongside a growing [[women's sports]] movement in Europe and North America, the group initiated of the [[Women's Olympiad]], held annually from 1921 to 1923. In cooperation with the English [[Women's Amateur Athletic Association]] (WAAA), the [[Women's World Games]] was held four times between 1922 and 1934, as well as a [[1924 Women's Olympiad|Women's International and British Games]] in [[London]] in 1924. These efforts ultimately led to the introduction of five track and field events for women in the [[athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="B">{{cite journal |author=Leigh, Mary H. |author2=Thérèse M. Bonin |title=The Pioneering Role Of Madame Alice Milliat and the FSFI in Establishing International Trade and Field Competition for Women |journal=Journal of Sport History |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=72–83 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1977 |jstor=43611530}}</ref> National women's events were established in this period, with 1923 seeing the [[1923 WAAA Championships|First British Track & Field championships for women]] and the [[Amateur Athletic Union]] (AAU) sponsoring the [[1923 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships|first American Track & Field championships for women]]. In China, women's track and field events were being held in the 1920s, but were subject to criticism and disrespect from audiences. Physical education advocate Zhang Ruizhen called for greater equality and participation of women in Chinese track and field.<ref>Morris, Andrew D. (2004). ''Marrow of the Nation: A History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China''. University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0520240841}}.</ref> The rise of [[Kinue Hitomi]] and her 1928 Olympic medal for Japan signified the growth of women's track and field in East Asia.<ref>Buchanan, Ian. [http://isoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10.pdf Asia's First Female Olympian] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722005121/http://isoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10.pdf |date=22 July 2019 }} ''[[Journal of Olympic History]]'' (September 2000). Retrieved 22 July 2019.</ref> More women's events were gradually introduced, though it was only towards the end of the century that the athletics programmes approached gender parity. Marking an increasingly inclusive approach to the sport, major track and field competitions for [[Disabled sports|disabled athletes]] were first introduced at the [[Athletics at the 1960 Summer Paralympics|1960 Summer Paralympics]].

With the rise of numerous regional championships, and the growth in Olympic-style multi-sport events (such as the [[Commonwealth Games]] and [[Pan-American Games]]), competitions between international track and field athletes became widespread. From the 1960s onward, the sport gained exposure and commercial appeal through [[Broadcasting of sports events|television coverage]] and the increasing wealth of nations. After over half a century of amateurism, in the late 1970s the amateur status of the sport began to be displaced by [[Professional sports|professionalism]].<ref name=IAAFintro/> As a result, the Amateur Athletic Union was dissolved in the US and replaced with a non-amateur body focused on the sport of athletics: The Athletics Congress (later [[USA Track and Field]]).<ref>[http://www.usatf.org/About/History.aspx The History of USATF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808085814/http://www.usatf.org/About/History.aspx |date=8 August 2019 }}. [[USATF]]. Retrieved 22 July 2019.</ref> The IAAF abandoned amateurism in 1982 and later rebranded itself as the International Association of Athletics Federations.<ref name=IAAFintro/> While Western countries were limited to amateurs until the 1980s, the [[Soviet Bloc]] always fielded state-funded athletes who trained full-time, putting American and Western European athletes at a significant disadvantage.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/21/archives/soviet-amateur-athlete-a-real-pro-dr-john-nelson-washburn-is-an.html |title=Soviet Amateur Athlete: A Real Pro |newspaper=The New York Times |date=21 July 1974 |last1=Washburn |first1=J. N. |access-date=16 November 2020 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419153414/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/21/archives/soviet-amateur-athlete-a-real-pro-dr-john-nelson-washburn-is-an.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 1983 saw the establishment of the [[IAAF World Championships in Athletics]], becoming, with the Olympics, one of track and field's most prestigious competitions.

The profile of the sport reached an apogee in the 1980s, with a number of athletes becoming household names, like [[Carl Lewis]], [[Sergey Bubka]], [[Sebastian Coe]], [[Zola Budd]] and [[Florence Griffith Joyner]]. Many [[list of world records in athletics|world records]] were broken then, and the added [[politics in sport|political element]] between competitors of the United States, [[East Germany]], and the Soviet Union, during the [[Cold War]], only served to stoke the sport's popularity. The rising commerciality of track and field was also met with developments in [[sports science]], and there were transformations in coaching methods, athlete's diets, training facilities, and sports equipment. The use of [[Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport|performance-enhancing drugs]] also increased. State-sponsored doping in 1970s and 1980s [[Doping in East Germany|East Germany]], [[Doping in China|China]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2116449/thousands-chinese-athletes-doped-through-state |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |title=Thousands of Chinese athletes doped through state-sponsored programme, exiled whistle-blower claims |work=[[South China Morning Post]] |date=22 October 2017 |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=3 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603205338/https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2116449/thousands-chinese-athletes-doped-through-state |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Doping in Russia#Soviet era|Soviet Union]],<ref name=nyt>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/sports/olympics/soviet-doping-plan-russia-rio-games.html |author=Ruiz, Rebecca R. |title=The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to '84 Olympics |work=The New York Times |date=13 August 2016 |access-date=19 November 2018 |archive-date=7 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807073015/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/sports/olympics/soviet-doping-plan-russia-rio-games.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and early 21st century [[Doping in Russia|Russia]], as well as prominent individual cases such as those of Olympic gold medallists [[Ben Johnson (Canadian sprinter)|Ben Johnson]] and [[Marion Jones]], damaged the public image and marketability of the sport.

From the 1990s onward, track and field became increasingly more professional and international, as the IAAF gained over 200 member nations. The IAAF World Championships in Athletics became a fully professional competition with the introduction of [[prize money]] in 1997,<ref name=IAAFintro/> and in 1998 the [[IAAF Golden League]]—an annual series of major track and field meetings in Europe—raised the economic incentive through its US$1 million jackpot. In 2010, the series was replaced by the more lucrative [[Diamond League]], a fourteen-meeting series held in Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East—the first-ever worldwide annual series of track and field meetings.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.iaaf.org/news/news/iaaf-to-launch-global-diamond-league-of-1-day-1 |title=IAAF to launch global Diamond League of 1 Day Meetings |publisher=[[International Association of Athletics Federations|IAAF]] |date=2 March 2009 |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=22 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722005117/https://www.iaaf.org/news/news/iaaf-to-launch-global-diamond-league-of-1-day-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>