World Athletics — founded 1912 in Stockholm as the IAAF, renamed in 2019 Athletics — track and field to Americans — is the sport of running, jumping and throwing, the purest expression of the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius: faster, higher, stronger.
Its grip comes from absolute measurement. In most sports you beat an opponent; in athletics you also chase a number that stands outside time — the world record, a mark that belongs to history rather than to a scoreboard. Roger Bannister's sub-four-minute mile in 1954 and Usain Bolt's 9.58 in 2009 are cultural events precisely because they are numbers anyone can grasp.
Pick two names from this sport’s all-time list. The larger number in each shared stat is highlighted.
| Stat | Usain Bolt | Carl Lewis |
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World Athletics — founded 1912 in Stockholm as the IAAF, renamed in 2019 Athletics — track and field to Americans — is the sport of running, jumping and throwing, the purest expression of the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius: faster, higher, stronger.
Its grip comes from absolute measurement. In most sports you beat an opponent; in athletics you also chase a number that stands outside time — the world record, a mark that belongs to history rather than to a scoreboard. Roger Bannister's sub-four-minute mile in 1954 and Usain Bolt's 9.58 in 2009 are cultural events precisely because they are numbers anyone can grasp.
What sets athletics apart is its breadth and its honesty. No other sport asks its athletes to be, in turn, an explosive sprinter, an endurance machine, a spring-loaded jumper and a rotational thrower — and then, in the decathlon, to be all of them across two days. The events reward physiques so different that the shot-putter and the marathoner barely look like members of the same species.
They are largely the same sport under two names. 'Athletics' is the international and British term, used by the governing body World Athletics, and it encompasses everything from stadium track and field to road running, cross country and race walking.
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