ATHLETICS

History - Discipline's Origin

Athletics, or track and field, is the original Olympic sport. The first event contested in the ancient Olympics was the stade
race, a sprint of about 192 metres. Recorded victors in this event are known as far back as 776 BC. Other athletics events in
the ancient Olympics included longer foot races, a race in armour, and a pentathlon event that consisted of the stade race,
long jump, discus throw, javelin throw and wrestling. Similar events were held in ancient Greece at the Isthmian, Nemean
and Pythian Games.
Throughout recorded sports history, athletics has always been practised. Many of the attempted revivals of the Olympics in
the 19th century consisted mostly of athletics contests. In Europe, local fairs and festivals often included running, jumping
and throwing events. In Ireland and Scotland, these developed into organised sets of Tailteann and Highland Games,
respectively.
Olympic History
Since the revival of the modern Olympics, athletics has been the most publicised sport on the Olympic programme. Today,
athletics is rivalled only by football (soccer), basketball and volleyball as the most practised sport. There are basically six
"categories" within track and field athletics: running, hurdling, walking, jumping, throwing and multi-events. Each of the
categories include several different events, now fairly standardised throughout the world.
Track and field athletics has been held at every Olympics since 1896. Women's track and field athletics began at the 1928
Olympics and has been contested ever since. Although the men's programme has varied it has become fairly standardised
since 1932. In addition, although women were first allowed to compete in only a few events, today they have a programme
of almost the same events as the men. For the Beijing Olympic Games, with the introduction of a steeplechase for women,
the only differences in the men's and women's programmes are that the men have two walks (20km and 50km) and the
women only one (20km), the distance for the women's high hurdles race is 100 metres and for the men's 110 metres, and
the women compete in a heptathlon, while the men compete in the decathlon.
The United States' men were historically the top nation in the world in track and field athletics, although European nations
were also dominant. Among the women, the Soviet Union and the GDR (East Germany) were the top powers prior to the
dissolution of those two nations. These days, the United States continue to dominate in the sprints, hurdles and horizontal
jumps although athletes from the Caribbean region are now challenging them strongly. The African nations, notably Kenya,
Ethiopia, and Morocco, are now the dominant forces in the distance running events.
Competition
Athletics
can

be

divided

into

four

areas:

track,

field,

road

and

combined

events.

Track events
Include sprints (100m, 200m, 400m), middle-distance running (800m,1500m) and long-distance running (5000m, 10,000m),
hurdling (100m and 400m for women, 110m and 400m for men), relays (4 x 100m and 4 x 400m) and the 3000m
steeplechase.

Field events
For both men and women, include the long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, discus, javelin and hammer
throw. The women's pole vault and hammer throw debuted at the Sydney 2000 Games.

Road events
Consist of the men's and women's marathons, the men's 20km and 50km race walks and the women's 10km race walk.

Combined events
The heptathlon for women and the decathlon for men - athletes compete in a series of track and field events over two days.
Points are based upon their finishes in each event, and the person with the most points wins.

List Of Events
10000m Men
100m Men
110m hurdles Men
1500m Men
200m Men
20km walk Men
3000m steeplechase Men
400m Men
400m hurdles Men
4x100m relay Men
4x400m relay Men
5000m Men
50km walk Men
800m Men
decathlon Men
discus throw Men
hammer throw Men
high jump Men
javelin throw Men
long jump Men
marathon Men
pole vault Men
shot put Men
triple jump Men

10000m Women
100m Women
100m hurdles Women
1500m Women
200m Women
20km race walk Women
3000m steeplechase Women
400m Women
400m hurdles Women
4x100m relay Women
4x400m relay Women
5000m Women
800m Women
heptathlon Women
discus throw Women
hammer throw Women
high jump Women
javelin throw Women
long jump Women
marathon Women
pole vault Women
shot put Women
triple jump Women

ASIAN ATHLETICS HISTORY

The Asian Track and Field Championships were originally planned at the 1962 Asian Games through the initiative of Major
General Aziz Salleh the Chief of the Indonesian Federation (PASI), but went a-begging by the "emergence" of the ill
conceived first and last Games of the Emerging Forces (GANEFO). The idea to hold the Championships was revived by the
Malaysian A.A.U. President, Tan Sri Mohamed Ghazali Shafie, at the 1966 Asian Games at Bangkok, which again met no
better fate as circumstances outside the control of athletics idealist intervened. At the 1970 Asian Games, the Punjab State
Sports Minister, Sardar Umrao Singh, took up the Challenge and plans for the First Asian Championships at Delhi were
finalized with Mr. R.L. Anand appointed Director of the Organisation when political developments in the sub-Continent
thrust the plans not only out of gear but out of sight for another two years. However, they kept up the tempo and though
unable to hold the Championships, they called for a meeting of the Asian Athletic Team officials at the 1972 Munich
Olympic Games. It was there that Governor Jose C. Sering, President of the Philippines Track and Field Association (PATAFA)
took up the challenge and history was made when the First Asian Track and Field Championships got off the launching pad
and was held at the Marikina Stadium near Manila in November 1973.
The Constitution of the Asian Amateur Athletic Association and the Rules governing the Asian Track and Field
Championships were ratified as amended at the First Asian AAA Congress Meeting at Manila, Philippines, in November, 2021, 1973 and Governor Jose C. Sering became the first President of the properly constituted Asian Amateur Athletic
Association and Mr. Maurice R. Nicholas, the first Secretary-General.
The Asian AAA Constitution was presented at the 29th Congress of the International Amateur Athletic Federation held in
Rome in August 29-31, 1974, and was accepted after a vote was taken.
At the 14rth Congress of Asian Amateur Athletic Association (AAAA) in Aug 2002, in Colombo, it was decided to change the
name of the association to Amateur Athletics Association (AAA).