`Athletics` is not the name of a single game or sport that we usually think. It is in fact, a collection of various indoor and outdoor games. This is also known as `Track and Field` or `Track and Field Athletics`. The word `Athletics` is derived from the Greek word "Athlos" that means "contest". You can roughly divide the sport events belonging to `Athletics` into running, throwing, and jumping. The sport born in prehistory period. It has advanced a lot and also included a collection of athletic challenges that vary hugely to each other. The men and women of all ages can take part respectively in this game. There is no such athletic event so far where you will see the men and women competing each other. At present, `Athletics` also includes road-running races, cross country races, mountain running and race walking along with the track and field events. The complete list of `Athletics` comprises of: 100 metres; 200 metres; 400 metres; 800 metres; 1500 metres; 3000 metres; 5000/10,000 metres; 100 metres Hurdles; 110 metres Hurdles; 400 metres Hurdles; Steeplechase; Marathon; High Jump; Long Jump; Triple Jump; Pole Vault; Shot Put; Discus Throw; Javelin Throw; Hammer Throw; Decathlon; Heptathlon; 4x100 metres Relay and 4x400 metres Relay.

`Athletics` precisely is about running faster, jumping higher or for a longer distance, or throwing further than everyone else. It`s perhaps the oldest of all sports. It`s running, jumping and throwing events are taking place for thousands and thousands of years. In today`s world, most of the well-known sports need a lot of technical and expansive equipments to make you more successful, it can be said that `Athletics` is one of the easiest sports to get into, as you need very little equipment to have a go. In most of the cases only a pair of trainers and some sporty clothes are enough to get started.


There are a lot of exciting events in `Athletics`. Amongst them, the most exciting one is perhaps the sprints, where athletes discharge themselves in a track to run as fast as they can. On the other hand, many of you may not enjoy the scale marathon as the runners here keep running for two hours without stopping. The events are organized in both the seasons of Summer and Winter. During Summer, competitions and events are held outdoors on 400m tracks and when it`s colder in the Winter the events take place indoors, and the track reduces to 200m in length.

As said earlier, in the `Athletics`, there are two kinds of games. One is the Track Games and the other one is the Field Games. Among the Track Games, you may include the events like running to the distance of 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres, 1500 metres, 3000 metres, and 5000/10,000 metres. Some other running events are the 100 metres Hurdles, 110 metres Hurdles and 400 metres Hurdles. You may find some running events where more than one athlete is competing for one goal. Such events include the 4x100 metres Relay and 4x400 metres Relay. There are three events in the jumping category like High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump and Pole Vault. Among the throwing events, there are Discus Throw, Javelin Throw and Hammer Throw. There are some events where one same athlete takes part in all the three types of games. These events are the Decathlon and Heptathlon. In these events the total points achieved by a player in all the games determine the winner.

In the field events, there are such events that take a lot more space than the track events. These events include the Marathon, Road-running Races, Cross-country Races, Mountain Running and Walking race. The longer throws of javelin, hammer and discus are also added in this category, as there is normally not enough space in an indoor stadium to house these events. All field events can be contested on the infield. Generally, men and women run the same distances. However, the hurdles and steeplechase barriers are lower to the women and the weights of the shot, discus, javelin and hammer are also lesser.

In today`s world, the modern athletic events are usually organized around a 400m running track on which most of the running events take place. Field events like vaulting, jumping, and throwing often take place inside the track. In the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the `Athletics` was included as an integral part. However, the women contestants were allowed to participate in track and field events in the Olympics in 1928 for the first time. The people watch the sport in a very high quantity during the major championships, especially the Olympics only, but otherwise they do not watch it very frequently.

Events in Athletics
Athletics include all those games, which display the extraordinary and special skills of the players to emerge out as winners. They include many events, in which the players have to prove themselves worthy as the winners. These events demand rigourous trainings and practise by the practising athletics.

India & Olympics
In India, the history of sports dates right back to the Vedic era. The founders of the Olympic idea seem to have had had India very much in mind when they were deciding on the various disciplines. It is more than likely that many of today`s Olympic disciplines are advanced versions of the games that flourished in ancient India and Greece. Chess, wrestling, polo, archery and hockey (possibly derived from polo) are some of the games believed to have originated in India.

Indian Athletes
The Indian Athletes have been a strong encouragement factor for the country, since they have always displayed their strong potentials and made a mark in athletics at the international level. Though most of them have just missed a mark to actually emerge out as winners, the very fact that they all have tried to accomplished something, which most of them cannot even think of; is something that India is proud of. Such athletes include P.T. Usha & Anju Bobby George, out of the many others. These two are recognized as very strong Indian personalities, who have made their foray into those sports, which is actually very difficult for the women to compete in.

Athletics Training Centers
The SAI and the AAFI account for most of the athletic training programs in India. They try to catch the potential athletes when they are young, and groom them according to international standards. At the international level, The IAAF High Performance Training Centres (HPTC) provide a centre of excellence for the training and development of international class athletes and coaches.

Terms of Athletics:

India at Asiad: