Track and field

A sport known as track and field, it consists of many athletic competitions based on talents such as sprinting, leaping, and throwing. The name of the sport comes from the venue, which consists of a grass field for some of the jumping and throwing events as well as a running track for the rest of the competition. Athletes compete in a variety of events under the umbrella sport of athletics. These events include racewalking, road running, and cross-country running in addition to track and field.

The winner of the foot racing competitions, which may include sprints, middle- and long-distance races, racewalking, and hurdling, is the athlete who completes the course in the shortest amount of time. Winners in the jumping and throwing competitions are those who leap the furthest distance or throw the farthest distance. When it comes to throwing events, the most frequent ones are the long jump, the triple jump, the high jump, and the pole vault. There are also things called "combined events" or "multi events," such as the pentathlon, which is made up of five different competitions, the heptathlon, which is made up of seven different competitions, and the decathlon, which is made up of 10 different competitions. Athletes compete in a variety of track and field events during the course of these competitions. The vast majority of track and field competitions are solo sports with a single winner; the relay races are the most notable team events, and they often include teams of four competitors. Although the men's and women's tournaments are often staged at the same location, practically all events are segregated strictly according to participants' genders. Recently, competitions have begun to include "mixed" relay events, in which four-person teams consisting of two men and two women compete against one another. In the event that there are too many persons to compete in a single heat of a race, the field of competitors will be divided into several preliminary heats.

One of the earliest sports still practised today is track and field. During those times, it was a gathering that took place alongside other celebrations and competitions, such as the Ancient Olympic Games, which took place in Greece. Both the athletics competition at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships are now considered to be the two most prestigious international track and field championships that take place in contemporary times. The worldwide governing organisation for the sport of athletics is a group that goes by the name World Athletics. In the past, they were known as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

There are records that are maintained of the top results in various competitions at every level, from the global level down to the national level and even down to the personal level. Athletes are kicked out of the competition and have their scores wiped clean if it is discovered that they have broken the rules or regulations of the event for which they are competing.

In the United States, the phrase "track and field" may also be used to refer to various types of athletic competitions, in addition to those that take place only on tracks, such as road races, marathons, and cross-country runs.