Track And Field History

What is the history of track and field, you may ask. Well here’s something that will tell you a little about track and field history. First thing’s first, let’s go to the basics of track and field. Track and field is a group of sporting events that involve mostly running, jumping, and throwing. These are the light athletics as some call it because it doesn’t involve any heavy lifting of some sort even wrestling or martial arts.

The sports events included in track and field are sprints, running in different lengths of tracks, jumping such as long and high jumps, road running, race walking, throwing events like shot put, hammer throw, discus throw, and javelin throw. Of course there are the combined events of track and field that we call the pentathlon, decathlon, and the heptathlon. The pentathlon involves five mixed events while the decathlon involves ten. The heptathlon on the other hand is the equivalent of decathlon for female athletes.

Now, the history of track and field goes all the way back to the 776 BC. It was when the first Olympics were held. Olympic track field history made its way during this time. The history of Olympic track and field started with only one event, called stadion or stade. Simply put, it is a short foot race held in a stadium. Thus the name stade or stadion. Track and field history was all from the classical era.

There were other games called the Panhellenic games that are ingrained in track and field history. Around 527 BC, the Pythian Games were held in Delphi every four years. Every two years, Argolid holds the Nemean Games since 516 BC. The Isthmian games were founded in 523 BC and were held every two years in the Isthmus of Corinth. These have contributed to the history of track and field. The Roman Games also form part of track and field history. However, these were more on wrestling, chariot races, and gladiatorial combat. If you’ve seen the movie Gladiator, then you’ll understand what it’s all about.

It was in the 19th century that the modern track field history came into reality. Organization formalizing track and field games came into place. They’ve come up with various meetings including schools to contribute in the history of track & field. The history of high school track and field as well as colleges started with the Royal Military College that incorporated sports and exercises in their regimes. The Royal Shrewsbury School and Exeter College, Oxford then followed. For more history of track & field like the history of female track and field legends, you can search the internet and read through thousands of pages on track and field history.