A History Of Athletics In The Olympics

Athletics at the Olympics

A History of Athletics in the Olympics

Athletics, or track and field, is the original Olympic sport. The first event contested in the Ancient Olympics was the stadion, a sprint of about 190 meters. Athletics has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the Games. They were due to be held from 31 July to 9 August 2020 at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. However, the Games were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The athletics program at the 2020 Olympics featured 48 events, 24 for men and 24 for women. There were three individual world records set at the Games, by Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands in the women's 10,000 meters, Karsten Warholm of Norway in the men's 400 meters hurdles, and Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela in the women's triple jump.