Considered by many to be the oldest organized sport in the world, athletics consists of the practice of a number of different physical disciplines, such as running, throwing, jumping and marching, as well as their combined forms, through a series of sporting events in sequence.
It takes place in stadiums, usually outdoors, and requires a number of implements such as javelins, poles, discs, hammers, fences and obstacles, as well as a group of specialized judges who observe the athletes’ performances and competitions. Some of them deal with a stopwatch, which measures the elapsed time and can set records.
Today, athletics is part of the professional sports disciplines and has an important prestige, especially because it is included in the Olympic Games, which take place every four years in a different place on the planet.
Rules of athletics
Currently, strict laws are in place for this sport to ensure that the tests are fair and honest and that the efforts of the athletes are open. This is done through a thorough inspection of participants, who are given a warm-up area before starting the exercise and the opportunity to participate barefoot or with shoes. They must have their own equipment provided by an athletics federation affiliated to the central guild and undergo doping controls.
The athletes represent their federation and their country, a matter that is also regulated by the rules, since in case of a change of citizenship or dual citizenship, the athlete must wait 3 years before representing another country in competitions.
Basic skills
Each athletics federation organizes national competitions.
In addition to the Olympic Games, which are held every 4 years, there are several important international competitions in the field, such as the World Athletics Championships, which started in 1983, or the World Indoor Athletics Championships, which opened in 1985 in Paris.
In addition, federations organize permanent continental competitions known as the Asian Championships, European Championships, etc. and, logically, there are also national competitions organized by each individual athletics federation.