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Athletics has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The athletics program traces its earliest roots to events used in the ancient Greek Olympics. The modern program includes track and field events, road running events, and race walking events.
The United States is the nation that has won the most medals in athletics at the Olympic Games, around 855, of which 353 are gold. [2] The United States men's and women's teams have participated in all editions of the games except for the Moscow 1980 games due to boycott.
The route, specially designed for the Paris 2024 Games and approved by World Athletics, was unique, demanding, and technical. Paris 2024 unveiled the routes for the Olympic marathon and the two races – a 42.195 km course and a 10 km course – open to the general public as part of the mass event running. [5]
Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the Games. They were due to be held from 31 July – 9 August 2020, at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo , Japan. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the games were postponed to 2021, with the track and field events set for 30 July – 8 August. [ 1 ]
The Olympic competition is the most prestigious athletics contest, and many athletics events are among the most watched events at the Summer Olympics. A total of 47 athletics events are held at the Olympics, 24 for men and 23 for women (as of London 2012).
The distance of the marathon at the Olympics has varied in the early years, before being standardized at 42,195 m in 1924, the distance that was run at the 1908 Olympics. In other years, the distances have been: 1896: 40,000 m (approximately) 1900: 40,260 m (25.02 mi) 1904: 40,000 m (24.85 mi) 1912: 40,200 m (24.98 mi) 1920: 40,750 m (25.32 mi)
Most records are subject to ratification by the governing body for that record. On the world level, that is World Athletics.Each body has their own procedure for ratifying the records: for example, USA Track & Field (USATF), the governing body for the United States, only ratifies records once a year at their annual meeting at the beginning of December.
The Olympic athletics programme has played a significant role in shaping the most common events in the sport. The World Athletics Championships is the foremost World Championship event, holding the vast majority of World Championship-level events within the competition.