Sports at all times attracted a huge number of people who tried to surpass their competitors and prove that the capabilities of their bodies are much higher than their opponents. The high desire for competition led to the start of the Olympic Games, which include the most popular sports. Then, depending on the power loads of various competitions, the creation of categories began, which gave rise to weightlifting and athletics.
Some moments of the history of the Olympic Games consist of legends, of course, this will be so, because the origin of sport took place more than 2 thousand years ago, when people perceived everything differently, which, of course, influenced the history of athletics.
Track and field development history
Competitions were held everywhere and throughout the entire existence of mankind, but in ancient times people were interested exclusively in the education of warriors who were able to bring victory in battles with minimal losses. Military interest in the education of physically developed men gradually began to degenerate into sports games, in which the main competitions were endurance and strength. From that moment, the birth of athletics began.
The first winner of athletics competitions (according to confirmed data) is a chef from the city of Elis named Koreb, who in 776 BC ran the fastest distance in the 1st stage (about 192 meters).
Athletics in ancient Greece had differences from modern competitions, for example, now a disc for throwing weighs 2 kilograms for men and 1 kilogram for women, but in antiquity the discs were different in almost all respects:
- Various materials were used (wood, metal and bronze).
- Their appearance also changed (for vague reasons).
- The most important difference is the weight, which ranged from 1.25 kilograms to 6.63.
One of the most popular competitions among fans was javelin throwing, which, most likely, was connected with the military direction of this sport, and the remaining competitions attracted fewer fans, but were part of the Olympic Games because of checking the capabilities of the body and spirit of a person.
Modern athletics
The ancient Olympic Games were very different from what we are seeing now, due to the influence of people, their faith and attitude to competitions.
The history of the development of athletics in its modern form began in 1837. Competitions in "light" sports became modern after the first race in 2 kilometers was held in England. The championship was held among college students of the city of Rugby, and after that it began to be popularized in other institutions and cities: Oxford, London, Cambridge and others. Then other competitions begin to add to the games: 1851 - high jumps and lengths with a run, 1864 - throwing a nucleus and a hammer, running with obstacles and other physical competitions.
In 1865, the world's first athletic club was formed in London, having achieved the holding of a national championship in various sports. After 3 years, New York picks up the idea of British athletes and organizes its own association, which begins to popularize competitions in the mainland of the New World.
The rest of the European countries realized a little later that sport attracted a huge number of people, and began to hold competitions in 1880, and by the 90th year of the same century, all of Europe was already in the "power" of sport.
Athletics competitions, after the start of popularization, were held exclusively within each country, and only in 1896 did the Athens host the real Olympic Games, which consisted of 12 different competitions and included several countries.
American athletes were trained at the highest level in almost all types of competitions and received most of the medals, from that moment they come prepared and lead in these types of competitions.
America showed an excellent result at the first Olympic Games and after that it holds a leading position in the number of winners, but not in such numbers, as other countries have understood the importance of this event and are preparing future champions in their own programs.
The history of athletics keeps many champions, but most of all remember the first winners: R. Urey (champion of the 2nd and 3rd Olympics in jumping from the spot), Orter, Matias, Thorpe and Owens (champions in the triple jump of the Olympics), Korzhenevsky (four-time winner in walking) and the rest of the winners, who will forever remain the first, since the beginnings of modern games began with them.
Athletics Achievements
At first, the organizers, athletes and fans simply rejoiced and remembered the achievements, but a little later the boom began not only to win, but also to achieve the best results in the history of the games.
Throughout the time of the games, new athletics records are constantly being set, but the difference between them is that the bulk are insignificant indicators that were overcome immediately; others were beaten after dozens of years; but there are those that no athlete can still surpass.
The first world record that has remained the best for 20 years is the long jump of an American athlete (8 meters 90 centimeters), but the most remarkable is that the previous achievement was half a meter less.
The history of the running marathon has a more serious achievement, which cannot be surpassed to this day - it is a race of 100 and 200 meters. The record holder in this discipline was the American runner Griffith-Joyner, who beat two results at once: she ran 100 meters in 10.49 seconds, and 200 meters in just 21.34 seconds.
There are no heavy competitions left in the Olympic Games today, the list consists of almost only light competitions. The main struggle, which has a large number of victories and records and with which athletics is rich, is a marathon. Such popularity is associated with athletes from Nigeria, constantly changing the Book of Records and attracting a huge number of fans.
Women's Athletics
From the beginning of the formation of modern athletics, all competitions were focused only on men, and women were not allowed to participate in competitions, but after a century of modern marathons, everything changed and “beautiful” athletics appeared. The "Queen of Sports" at first had few participants, but over time a huge number of women came to the sport.
The first competitions with the participation of women took place in 1928, but only by the 96th year the number of athletics competitions with women approached the milestone of 20 kinds.
The organizers managed to fully gain the trust only at the 1999 games, when athletes in hammer throwing and pole vaulting performed in Sydney.
The history of athletics in Russia
The Russian empire was in no hurry to take part in the Olympics, and already in 1952 the USSR brought athletes to the games and established itself on a par with America. The competition between the USSR and the USA arose a very long time ago and was strengthened by competitions in which our athletes still create enormous competition for all countries of the world.
The fact that Russia ignored the global love of sports does not mean a complete lack of competition. In our country, the history of the development of athletics began with the first fans who organized a club in St. Petersburg in 1888. A year later, the sports community got the name: "Society of Runners".
The St. Petersburg circle quickly gathered athletes and spectators, and only a year later they changed their name and continued their work as a sports center of the Russian Empire. After organizing the community, it took only five years, after which the circle grew so much that other sports began to add, and 1895 records the history of athletics in Russia as the year of the first large-scale games, where 10,000 fans came.
Russia was in no hurry to enter the world athletics competitions, but its exit meant a collapse for athletes from all countries of the world, which is proved by the victory tables, where exactly the USSR is on the first line in almost all games, however today our athletes do not show the results that could reach in the USSR.
Athletics Doping Control
The history of athletics knows a huge number of disqualifications due to doping, and the situation has not yet been resolved, as athletes want to be the best, and some of them are trying to prove superiority through antibiotics.
To control the athletes (in addition to medical examination), the IAAF organization was created, which allows checking the athlete’s history for all medical examinations that are not related to the Olympics.
You can cite a huge number of examples of “doping fishing” that athletics are rich in: high jump (2012 - disqualification of the applicant for the gold medal), walking (2014 - disqualification of 4 athletes from Russia), running (2014 - disqualification of the athlete) , as well as many other examples of rule violations.
The IAAF developed a card system based on the mark of any medical examinations out of competition, but the athlete could participate without this card, but in this case he did not receive cash bonuses and fulfilled the standards only for interest.
And although, when applying for a card, the athlete confirms that he will abide by the rules and in case of victories will support the IAAF organization in their control work, there are still athletes who neglect this and take doping when they drop out of the competition.
The birth of a marathon
The history of athletics began with running, and today the most popular athletic sport is marathon running, which was born during the creation of the Olympic Games according to a pretty beautiful legend.
Legend of the marathon: "Near the small town of Marathon, Greek troops completely defeated the Persian enemies and sent a messenger to inform Athens, who ran 40 kilometers without stopping, and on arrival only managed to shout that they had won, and then died immediately."
This legend is confirmed by the distance traveled by the athletes of the marathon of the ancient Olympiads - 40 kilometers, and the same distance was from Athens to the city of Marathon, however, scientists doubt that the Greeks could measure this distance so accurately, but the Egyptians somehow built ideal the pyramids.
Long-distance running (marathon) is not limited to 40 kilometers, but is the minimum distance for women who can participate in ultramarathons and super marathons, which includes athletics (the "queen of sports"). The participant in super marathons must run as far as possible for the allotted time. In this sport, there are only time frames in the form of 2, 12 hours, days, 2 days and 6 days, for which athletes can run from 50 to 1500 kilometers.
The essence of long-distance marathons is not to run faster than everyone, but to move away from the starting point as far as possible over the allotted time. This type of athletics is quite difficult to attribute to the lungs, because athletes run not just 2 hours, they run enormous distances without rest in a day, or even several days, completely exhausting themselves and leading the body to a dangerous condition.
All-around winners
Sports from the very beginning have many different types and are grouped into categories. The history of athletics remembers many different groups that were originally formed for greater entertainment and variety, but after a while the set of competitions in all-around was focused on the selection of the most versatile athletes. The Greeks greatly appreciated the winners and opened for them all doors and any positions in the government of the country.
In the competitions of the Olympics there are pentathlon, decathlon and heptathlon, and to win you need to score more points than competitors, and beat rivals in several disciplines. However, there are controversial situations where it is not known exactly who became the first, but this also provides for athletics. The photo is the only evidence of the athlete’s victory with insignificant margins from the opponent, however today it is possible to view the photo finish, and how this problem was solved before is still unknown.
Due to the tense situation of the almost complete achievement of human capabilities (see Note) and high competitiveness, athletes come at a distance of a few fractions of a second from each other, so the photo finish is actively used in all sports.
Note. According to some scientists, after 40 years, humanity will reach the maximum capabilities of the body and will no longer be able to set new world records in competitions in physical capabilities.
Guinness World Records for Athletics
Sport is tightly connected with the records with which the history of the development of athletics is filled, and without them there would have been no increase in popularity and the constant transformation of sports.
The Guinness Book of Records was invented just 59 years ago to entertain the visitors of the bar from the Guinness company and other beer lovers, and the first versions were printed not only for informing and resolving the disputes of the fans in sports bars, but also for entertainment, so they got funny records.
The brewery that ordered the book did not think about such popularity, but in the first couple of months, sales reached 5,000, and by the beginning of 56 of the 20th century, 5 million record collections were already sold.
Note. The book of records not only describes the achievements of people, but also shows photos of their records, but if the publishers thought out the orderly writing of the records, then the history of athletics would be reflected in it. A summary of all the events would allow people to track the popularity of sports, but today this data is not so popular, because the Internet shows all the achievements in almost real time.
Apparently, due to the fact that Russia rather late (in 1955) began to enter the world level in sports competitions and did not show much interest (although it showed excellent results), the Book of Records was translated into Russian only in 1989.
Then the popularity began to grow higher and higher, due to the lack of means of constant and reliable information at that time, and the book is a collection of all sports achievements in one place. In the end, to get on the list of champions you just had to break a record or do something unbelievable that under normal conditions no one does and, generally, not everyone decides to do that.
Simply put, the history of the Guinness Book of Records is not just related to athletics, it began to develop at the expense of those sports that were most popular among people, and only after that it began to accept the rest, in some cases crazy, people's records and their capabilities.
Athletics in the 21st Century
The Olympic Games today are a great event for all countries of the world, many of which are trying to gain the confidence of the organizers and spend these momentous days at the stadiums of their cities. However, many do not understand the dangers of competition from an economic point of view and the example of this is the creators of athletics are Greeks. The Olympics in Greece led the country to a crisis that knocked out all the money from the Greeks, put the country in very poor condition, from which it emerged for several years and is still recovering from those economic costs.
Athletics and any other sport come to the fact that today it’s hard to break the records of rivals, and most winners cannot repeat their achievements. This indicates the difficulties that athletics have come to. Jumping, running, throwing objects and other sports are oversaturated with records, humanity is taking great strides, progress is so fast that ordinary people do not have time to test the technology for themselves, and scientists do something new. All events only confirm the hypothesis that soon there will be no records that can be broken, and a person will come to the peak of his physical abilities.
For an example of the fact that people are at the limit of possibilities, a technique for identifying winners, which is actively used by athletics, can serve. A photo is the only possible way to determine the winner, because today there is so much serious competition and there are no athletes who outperform their opponents by 2, 3, and even more so 5 seconds, and the struggle is in tenths and sometimes in hundredths of a second.