The word athletics comes from the Greek "Athlon" which means combat, fight. It is a competitive sport for both individual and group that consists of several tests in which various physical and technical skills are demonstrated that allow the development of them.
These tests can be carried out on outdoor or indoor courts, which meet a number of technical requirements. General objective of this discipline is the fight against time and distance.
Athletics is considered one of the oldest sports in the world. Because its appearance dates from the first Olympics that were held in ancient Greece during 776 BC But it was Europe during the 19th century that many of the rules and disciplines that are known today were established.
These are some of the disciplines of athletics
Sprint races: in these races, the athlete crouches at the starting line, after the starting shot he leaves at full speed, to reach the goal in the shortest time possible. Sprint races are those that run 50 and 60 meters, but there are also races of 100, 200, 400 meters in which more physical endurance is required than speed.
Hurdles: these are speed races in which competitors must jump a series of ten obstacles called fences that can be made of wood and metal or plastic and metal. Generally, the 110 meter races are run with high hurdles, the 200 meters with low hurdles and the 400 meters with intermediate hurdles.
Obstacle Race: Athletes must jump over a series of hurdles, an estuary, and other obstacles over a distance of almost always 3000 meters.
Relay race: it is a test for teams of four, which consists of each participant traveling a certain distance and passing a rigid bar called a witness to another participant. In the 400-meter races each team member must travel 100 meters, for which it is known as a 4 x 100 race and the 800 meters are 4 x 200 meters.
High jump: the objective of this discipline is to overcome without knocking down a horizontal bar called a ribbon through a jump. This strip is suspended on two vertical bars separated by about 4 meters. Each competitor has a total of three attempts to overcome the same height.
Pole vault: In this discipline the athlete tries to overcome a bar located at a great height with the help of a bar made of fiberglass called a pole.
Long jump: the competitors run a distance and are thrown from a line delimited usually with plasticine fall into a sandbox. The objective of this discipline is that in the jump the athletes place their legs forward to cover the maximum amount of distance possible.
Triple jump: this consists of covering the maximum distance through three sequential jumps.
Shot put: the essence of this category is to throw as far as possible a metal ball that weighs 7.26 kg for men and 4 kg for women.
Discus Throw: The idea of holding the discus against the fingers and forearm on the throwing side, then turning around to quickly throw it into the air, stretching the arms. This flat disc has a metal edge and center that is thrown from a circle marked with a diameter of 2.5 meters.
Hammer Throw: The hammer is a heavy metal ball attached with a wire with a handle on the end. These three ball, wire and handle elements weigh 7.26 kg and form a unit with a maximum length of 1.2 meters. To launch, the athlete must grasp the handle with both hands and keep his feet still, spinning the ball in a circle that passes over his head until reaching the height of the knees, to reach maximum speed, then turn on himself same two to three times then release upward and forward at a 45 degree angle. It has to fall in a 90º arc for the throw to be valid.
Javelin throw: it is a spear with a metal tip that has a minimum length of 2.6 meters for men weighing 800 g and 2.2 meters for women weighing 600 g. It has a string handle located at the center of gravity of the javelin about 15 cm long. The javelin must be held by this handle and released before passing the final fairway mark, the angle of departure is very important for the range of the throw. Each participant has six launch opportunities.
Decathlon: consists of ten tests that take place over two days where the physical versatility of the participants is put to the test. These events include 100m sprints, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m sprint, 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1,500m sprint.
Marathon: these are races whose distance exceeds 3000 meters, called long distance or long distance events. These take place in different scenarios with varied tracks.
March: they are races between 1500 meters and 50 kilometers, the essence of this race is do not run. To do this, the competitor's heel of the front foot remains in contact with the ground until the toe of the back foot stops making contact with it.
