THE HISTORY OF TRACK AND FIELD

By, JaNyce Bullard

WHAT IS TRACK AND FIELD? Track and field is a sport which includes athletic contests

established on the skills of running, jumping, and throwing.

THE FIRST EVER TRACK RACE

The ancient Olympic Games began in 776 BC when Koroibos, a cook from a nearby city of Ellis won the stadium race, a foot race 600 feet long. (600 feet is about 183 meters, nowadays tracks are 400 meters long.)

THE MARATHON The marathon was not introduced until the modern Olympic games

of 1896 in Athens and was normally 26 miles long. (That is about 41843 meters long which is about the same as our marathons today are 26.2 miles long.)

TRACK AND FIELD IN THE U.S. Track and field athletics in the U.S. dates back to the 1860’s. The Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletics of America,

the nations first national athletic group, held the first collegiate races in 1873.

JIM THORPE Since track and field was purely an amateur sport you could be charged with professionalism if you play semi pro or pro sports and still try and participate in the Olympic games. Jim Thorpe Native American Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics but was stripped of his gold medals for violating amateur eligibility rules by playing semi pro baseball and football. In 1982, The International Olympic Committee restored both Thorpe’s amateur status and his two Olympic medals.

MORE TRACK AND FIELD HISTORY Beginning in the 1920s, track and

field’s scope widened. The first NCAA national

championships were held for men in 1921, and women’s track and field became part of the Olympic Games in 1928.

In 1952, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) sent its first Olympic team ever to the Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland, where the squad captured several track-and-field medals. Over the next 30 years, the U.S. and Soviet teams battled in one of the sport’s longest and most competitive rivalries.

HISTORY OF OTHER TRACK EVENTS…

SHOT PUT HISTORY Scottish Highland Games historians believe the shot put originated from the ancient Celtic tradition of "putting the stone" which, according to Scottish folklore, was used by Clan chieftains to help them identify their strongest men for battle purposes.

The shot put has been an Olympic event since the first modern Olympics in 1896 in Rome. It’s a sport that requires technique as well as strength, and changes in throwing style have since led to significant gains in the power of the thrower and the distances achieved.

POLE VAULT HISTORY The precise origin of pole vaulting isn't known. It was likely discovered independently in a variety of cultures as a way of surmounting physical obstacles, such as streams or irrigation ditches. Egyptian relief sculptures from approximately 2500 B.C. depict warriors using poles to help climb enemy walls.

The sport was an original modern Olympic event in 1896.

HIGH JUMP HISTORY The high jump was among the

events in the first modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896.

Before the 1960s, high jumpers generally leaped feet-first and then rolled over the bar. A new head-first technique surfaced in the '60s, with Dick Fosbury as its notable early proponent.

LONG JUMP HISTORY The long jump was part of the

first Olympics in ancient Greece and also was featured in the first modern games in 1896.

The origins of the long jump can be traced to the Olympics in Ancient Greece, when athletes carried weights in each hand. These were swung forward on take-off and released in the middle of the jump in a bid to increase momentum.

TRACK AND FIELD TODAY Track and field today consists of various sports and competitors from

60m run, 100m run, 200m run, 400m run, 800m run, 1500m run, 3000m run, various relays, marathons, shot put, discus, hammer throw, javelin throw, pole vault, and various sand pit jumping events.

There are annual track and field contests held in either America or other countries and is a major part of the Olympics.

PERSONAL REFLECTION ON TRACK AND FIELD

After researching up on track and field and learning about the origins of all the events I thought it was so interesting.

I ran track in high school so learning about the first ever foot race took place in 776 BC was interesting to learn, and it’s amazing how much the track’s we run on today are so different yet the same as the ones we run on today.

I also thought it was pretty cool that the marathon’s we have today are almost the exact same distance as the marathons from back in 1896.

THE END

CITATIONS "The History Of Track And Field. Where Running Started." The History Of

Track And Field. Where Running Started. N.p., Web. 02 Mar. 2017. Purves, Linda. "The History of Shot Put." LIVESTRONG.COM. Leaf Group,

06 Feb. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2017. "IAAF: Long Jump." Iaaf.org. N.p., Web. 02 Mar. 2017. "Jim Thorpe." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 05 Feb. 2016.

Web. 02 Mar. 2017. Rosenbaum Mike "A History of the Track and Field Pole Vault Event, in

Pictures." About.com Sports. N.p., 13 Dec. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.