Athletics

Countries	Athletes	Events
200	2377	47

Schedule & Results

Athletics

Daily Calendar

Event

Men
Women

TRACK
Men's 100m
Men's 200m
Men's 400m
Men's 800m
Men's 1500m
Men's 5000m
Men's 10,000m
Men's 3000m Steeplechase
Men's 110m Hurdles
Men's 400m Hurdles
Men's 4 x 100m Relay
Men's 4 x 400m Relay

ROAD
Men's Marathon
Men's 20km Walk
Men's 50km Walk

JUMPS
Men's High Jump
Men's Pole Vault
Men's Long Jump
Men's Triple Jump

THROWS
Men's Shot Put
Men's Discus Throw
Men's Hammer Throw
Men's Javelin Throw

COMBINED
Men's Decathlon

TRACK
Women's 100m
Women's 200m
Women's 400m
Women's 800m
Women's 1500m
Women's 5000m
Women's 10,000m
Women's 3000m Steeplechase
Women's 100m Hurdles
Women's 400m Hurdles
Women's 4 x 100m Relay
Women's 4 x 400m Relay

ROAD
Women's Marathon
Women's 20km Walk

JUMPS
Women's High Jump
Women's Pole Vault
Women's Long Jump
Women's Triple Jump

THROWS
Women's Shot Put
Women's Discus Throw
Women's Hammer Throw
Women's Javelin Throw

COMBINED
Women's Heptathlon

Olympic Stadium Pontal Sambódromo

Event		Status
Fri 1209:30	Men's Discus Throw Qual. Round - Group A	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1209:35	Women's Heptathlon 100m Hurdles - Heat 1	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1209:41	Women's Heptathlon 100m Hurdles - Heat 2	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1209:47	Women's Heptathlon 100m Hurdles - Heat 3	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1209:53	Women's Heptathlon 100m Hurdles - Heat 4	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:05	Women's Shot Put Qual. Round - Group A	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:05	Women's Shot Put Qual. Round - Group B	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:10	Men's 800m Round 1 - Heat 1	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:17	Men's 800m Round 1 - Heat 2	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:24	Men's 800m Round 1 - Heat 3	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:31	Men's 800m Round 1 - Heat 4	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:38	Men's 800m Round 1 - Heat 5	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:45	Men's 800m Round 1 - Heat 6	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:50	Women's Heptathlon High Jump - Group A	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:50	Women's Heptathlon High Jump - Group B	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1210:55	Men's Discus Throw Qual. Round - Group B	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1211:10	Women's 10,000m	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1211:55	Women's 100m Preliminary Round - Heat 1	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1212:00	Women's 100m Preliminary Round - Heat 2	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1212:05	Women's 100m Preliminary Round - Heat 3	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1212:10	Women's 100m Preliminary Round - Heat 4	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1214:30	Men's 20km Race Walk	Pontal
Fri 1220:30	Women's 1500m Round 1 - Heat 1	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1220:35	Women's Heptathlon Shot Put - Group A	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1220:35	Women's Heptathlon Shot Put - Group B	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1220:38	Women's 1500m Round 1 - Heat 2	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1220:40	Women's Hammer Throw Qual. Rnd - Group A	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1220:46	Women's 1500m Round 1 - Heat 3	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:05	Men's 400m Round 1 - Heat 1	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:12	Men's 400m Round 1 - Heat 2	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:19	Men's 400m Round 1 - Heat 3	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:20	Men's Long Jump Qual. Round - Group A	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:20	Men's Long Jump Qual. Round - Group B	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:26	Men's 400m Round 1 - Heat 4	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:33	Men's 400m Round 1 - Heat 5	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:40	Men's 400m Round 1 - Heat 6	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1221:47	Men's 400m Round 1 - Heat 7	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:00	Women's Shot Put Final	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:05	Women's Heptathlon 200m - Heat 1	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:10	Women's Hammer Throw Qual. Rnd - Group B	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:10	Women's Heptathlon 200m - Heat 2	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:15	Women's Heptathlon 200m - Heat 3	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:20	Women's Heptathlon 200m - Heat 4	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:40	Women's 100m Round 1 - Heat 1	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:46	Women's 100m Round 1 - Heat 2	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:52	Women's 100m Round 1 - Heat 3	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1222:58	Women's 100m Round 1 - Heat 4	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1223:04	Women's 100m Round 1 - Heat 5	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1223:10	Women's 100m Round 1 - Heat 6	Olympic Stadium
Fri 1223:16	Women's 100m Round 1 - Heat 7	Olympic Stadium

WRWorld Record
OROlympic Record

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About

Key Facts
Rules
30-Second Expert

Aim of the game

Across the different events the aim is always the same: to outperform your opponents, whether in running, jumping or throwing

Why should you watch this?

Some of the greatest athletes of all time, such as Usain Bolt, will strive to achieve unprecedented feats amid a carnival of sporting challenges that encompass the Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger

Venues

Olympic Stadium , Pontal , Sambódromo

International Federation

IAAF

Olympic debut

Athens 1896

Fosbury flop

A high jump style developed by Dick Fosbury in the 1960s that sees athletes jump backwards over the bar – before this most jumpers used the ‘straddle’ technique
False start

Starting an individual race before the starting pistol is fired, invalidating the start and resulting in disqualification
Back straight

The 100m stretch on the opposite side of the track to the ‘home straight’ (which leads to the finish line), this is the area where middle and long-distance runners often mount attacks

Impress your friends

Athletics, also known as ‘track and field’ in the USA and Canada, was opened up to women at the Amsterdam 1928 Olympic Games
On the first Olympic Games at 776 BC, Coroebus of Elis won the running race (known as The Stadion) 192m of distance, to become the first ever Olympic champion
The first recorded athletics competitions were in European countries, such as Greece, Ireland and Scotland
Brazil’s Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal, after winning bronze in the Athens 2004 marathon despite being grabbed by a spectator while leading
At the London 2012 Games, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt became the first man to successfully defend both the 100m and 200m Olympic titles
Ethiopian Abebe Bikila, running barefoot, won the marathon at the Rome 1960 Games and became the first black African to win an Olympic gold medal
The USA’s Bob Beamon broke the Olympic long jump record at the Mexico City 1968 Games with 8.90m – it was so long that the measuring device could not extend far enough to record it
Beamon’s mark was eventually broken in 1991, when compatriot Mike Powell set the current record of 8.95m during an epic contest with Carl Lewis
Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi is the most decorated Olympic track and field athlete, with 9 gold and 3 silver medals
One of the first athletics events in ancient times was the race in armour
When there is no measurable time difference between the first runners over the line, the winner is decided by a ‘photo finish’, using the image from a camera set up on the finish line
More medals are awarded for athletics than any other Olympic sport – a total of 141, including 47 golds
The marathon is named after the 26-mile run by a Greek soldier called Pheidippides, from a battle to Athens, where he announced the defeat of the invading Persians, then died

Flat races

Athletes race over distances of 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m. The two relay events (4x100m and 4x400m) are contested by teams of four athletes, each of whom runs one quarter of the total distance, passing a baton to their team-mate within a restricted area.

Obstacle races

Runners must jump over 10 evenly placed barriers (hurdles) that are 1.07m high for men and 0.84m for women in the 100m and 110m races, and 0.914m high for men and 0.762m for women in the 400m – bumping into or knocking over a hurdle does not result in a penalty, although it does slow down the athlete in steeplechase, athletes race over 3000m, jumping obstacles 0.91m high for men and 0.76m for women, some of which land into water pits that are 0.70m deep.

Height jumps

High jump - athletes must jump as high as possible over a horizontal bar, landing in a cushioned area. Each athlete has three attempts at each height – three consecutive failures (toppling the bar) result in elimination.

Pole vault - athletes must jump as high as possible over a horizontal bar. After a run-up, they jam a flexible fibreglass pole into a metal box at the base to take off, landing in a cushioned area. Each athlete has three attempts at each height – three consecutive failures (toppling the bar) result in elimination.

Distance jumps

Long jump - each athlete has three attempts to jump as far as possible. They build up speed on a runway around 40m long and jump into a sand pit.

Triple jump - each athlete has three attempts to jump as far as possible. They build up speed on a runway around 40m long. The take-off foot absorbs the first landing (the hop), the next phase (the step) lands on the opposite foot and the final part (the jump) finishes in the sandpit. The distance measured is from the edge of the board to the final landing.

Throwing events

Shot put - each athlete has three attempts to throw a round metal weight (shot) weighting 4kg (women) or 7.2kg (men).

Discus throw - athlete has three attempts at throwing a disc weighing 1kg (women) or 2kg (men).

Javelin throw - each athlete has three attempts to throw a metal-tipped javelin weighing 600g (women) or 800g (men).

Hammer throw - each athlete has three attempts to throw an iron ball weighing 4kg (women) or (7.2kg) men fixed to a steel cable (1.2m long).

Road events

At 42.195km, the marathon is the longest running event, traditionally taking athletes around the city. In walk, athletes race over 20km (man and women) or 50km (men) in short, rapid steps, ensuring that one foot is always in contact with the ground and keeping the extended leg straight from the moment the foot touches the ground until the other foot has moved ahead of it.

Combined events

Heptathlon and decathlon comprise a series of events over two consecutive days. The women’s heptathlon includes the 100m hurdles, 200m, 800m, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin throw. The men’s decathlon combines the 100m, 400m, 1500m, 110m hurdles, long jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, discus and javelin.