Marla Runyan, the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympics, broke barriers with a career that includes six Paralympic medals—five of them gold.
Track and field athletics is one of the oldest forms of organized sport, encompassing a wide range of running, jumping, and throwing events. While the sport developed across many countries during the late 1800s, global interest surged following the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896.
Track and field, also known as athletics, made its Olympic debut as a men’s only competition at the 1896 Summer Games in Athens. Women’s events were later introduced at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
Today, track and field is the largest sport in the Summer Olympics, featuring 48 events and practiced in more than 200 countries worldwide. Competitions primarily take place in the main stadium and span nearly the entire duration of the Games, making athletics one of the most anticipated and widely viewed Olympic events.
Track and field includes a diverse range of events grouped into track, field, road, and combined disciplines.
The United States has played a defining role in shaping the sport of track and field, with American athletes producing some of the most iconic performances in Olympic track and field history.
Notable U.S. Olympic track and field athletes include:
In addition to Olympic competition, track and field plays a central role in the Paralympic Movement.
Dr. Ludwig Guttmann introduced para athletics as part of rehabilitation programs for World War II veterans with spinal injuries. In 1948, Guttmann organized the first Stoke Mandeville Games in Great Britain, where para track and field was first introduced.
Para track and field events have been contested at every Paralympic Summer Games since 1960. The United States dominated para track and field competition from 1964 through 1996, establishing its legacy on the global stage.
Paralympic track and field includes many of the same disciplines as Olympic competition, with events adapted for athletes across various classifications. Some Olympic events, such as hurdles, are included in limited classifications, while pole vault and hammer throw are not. In their place, the Paralympics include adapted events like wheelchair racing and the club throw.
From early dominance in the mid-20th century to continued success today, Team USA has long been a global leader in Paralympic track and field, producing generations of world-class athletes.
The Hall of Fame at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum captures the past and present accomplishments of Olympic and Paralympic track and field legends from Team USA. Plan your visit to Colorado Springs and explore the stories of athletes who changed history.
The main track and field events are track events, field events, road events, and combined events.
There are 48 track and field events in the Summer Olympics (24 for men and 24 for women).
A false start in Olympic track and field is when a sprinter leaves the starting blocks before the gun fires, or initiates movement in less than 0.1 seconds after the gun fires. Any athlete responsible for a false start is immediately disqualified from the race.
Paralympic track and field athletes may use specialized equipment such as running blades, racing wheelchairs, throwing frames, prosthetics, and visual aids like sighted guides, rope tethers, and acoustic devices.
Paralympic track and field classifications group athletes by impairment type, including visual, intellectual, and physical impairments such as limb deficiency, cerebral palsy, prosthetics, or wheelchair use.
