The history of athletics in India dates back to the Vedic era. Although it is indeed a mystery that when exactly athletics in India made its presence felt as a distinct sports form; however it can be said that the well illustrated values of the Atharva Veda contoured the limn of Indian athletics.

In the Vedic age or much later in the period of Ramayana and Mahabharata, Athletics were typically a common form of sports. Sports like chariot racing, archery, horsemanship, military tactics, wrestling, weight lifting, swimming and hunting made their presence felt quite colossally back in that era. Historical evidence unveils that Indian athletics acquired a remarkable dimension, when Buddhism was swaying. Many interesting Athletics events like archery, equitation, hammer throwing and chariot-racing were in vogue during that period. Apart from these games, some other games like hiking, walking, `gulli-danda` also made their presence felt at a later period in ancient India. Almost all these games were defined as a `must` in the military training sessions of the Indian empires, during that period.

With the course of time, the nature and formation of sports in India started to change while leaving space to the up gradation of sports and Athletics in India. During the medieval period in the history of Indian Athletics, the Indian people started playing the sports like running, jumping, throwing, walking etc. Most of these sports were actually the ancestors of the track and field events of today`s Athletics. All these sports got immense popularity in India, as they were quite capable of improving one`s physical fitness.

No information can be found about the exact timing when the contemporary form of Athletics games started its journey in India. However, it is generally said that the present day Athletics started to be played in India, just after the independence. Till then, there were a number of phases in the history of Indian Athletics. At the initial period, the Indian people used to play the track and field games in the grass and cinder tracks. After that, they started to play on the synthetic surface in most of the major competitions. The synthetic tracks made the organisers` jobs easier as there were no needs of manual marking of tracks and associated definitions for throws and jumps in those tracks. The introduction of technology in the game of Athletics improved its status further as keeping the record of players` timing became much easier.

Athletics was being played in an unorganised manner in India till Independence and it was in 1946, when Indian Athletics started to be managed in an organised manner. The decade of 1940s and 1950s are most notable in the history of Indian Athletics, as a number of Athletics associations started their journey in India, during that period. In 1946, the Amateur Athletics Federation of India (AAFI) was established for the management of Indian Athletics. It worked in collaboration with the other Athletics associations for improving the entire scenario of Indian Athletics.

Many Indian Athletes have showed their excellence in various Athletics events in the international level so far. They have become an integral part of the history of Indian Athletics, as they brought considerable amount of glory to the nation. The Indian athletes have a rich tradition of brilliant performances in the international tournaments. India has so far produced a number of successful athletes in the international level. Some of the most successful Athletes in the history of Indian Athletics include Milkha Singh, T. C Yohannan, Gurbachan Singh, Sriram Singh etc. All these athletes are considered as the golden boys in the history of Indian Athletics. Some of the notable Indian Athletes in the contemporary period include P T Usha, Anju Bobby George, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, Saraswati Saha, Soma Biswas etc.