Track and field athletics facts for kids
Track and field is part of the sport of athletics. Athletics is a collection of sport events that includes running, jumping and throwing. Track and field events take place in a sports stadium, either on the running track, or on the field inside the running track. These tracks are generally made up of synthetic rubber – rubber particles bound with latex or polyurethane. Other athletics events that are not track and field, include cross country running, road running, marathon running, and race-walking - these events take place outside a sports stadium.
Athletics is a very common sporting event over the world. Athletics is a combination of different sports, generally running, jumping and throwing events. Running events include marathons, hurdle races, long distance and short distance events. Some jumping events are high jump, long jump, triple jump and pole vault. Throwing events involve javelin throw, discus throw, hammer throw and shot put.
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Pole vault event at Birmingham.
There are also events that combine parts of running, jumping, and throwing. One of these is the decathlon, which includes two short-distance races, a mile run, a hurdles race, javelin, discus, shot-put, high jump and pole vault.
All participants are timed or have a distance measured and this is their end result. Participants train hard for an event and always aim to better their results.
Athletics is a sport that people take part in all over the world. It is a sport that is most common between young children up to younger adults. Athletics can be played for enjoyment, but it can also be a competitive sport. Athletics is also an event in the Olympic games.
Images for kids
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An early model of hurdling at the Detroit Athletic Club in 1888
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American athlete Jim Thorpe lost his Olympic medals having taken expense money for playing baseball, violating Olympic amateurism rules, before the 1912 Games.
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Carl Lewis was among the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile.
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The finish of a women's 100 m race
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Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle distance world records in the 1940s.
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Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event
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Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950
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A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships
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Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition
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Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event
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Anna Giordano Bruno releases the pole after clearing the bar
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Remigius Machura preparing to throw within the circle
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Bregje Crolla beginning to throw the javelin
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Yury Shayunou spinning with the hammer within the circle
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Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race
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Oscar Pistorius, running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Olympics
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The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics
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The 2006 European Athletics Championships at the Ullevi Stadium
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The pole vault competition at the 2007 Pan American Games
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A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia
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Marion Jones, after admitting to doping, lost her Olympic medals, was banned from the sport, and spent six months in jail.
See also
In Spanish: Atletismo para niños
