Leisure Kicks - The essencial sport and leisure guide

Athletics is the nation’s favourite Olympic and Paralympic sport. Athletics is a collection of sporting events that involves running, jumping, throwing and walking as various distances with varying props in the throwing competitions. Track and field, road running, cross country running and race walking are the main competition areas in athletics. The aim for competitors is to run faster, throw further, jump higher and leap further than their rivals. It is also the most popular spectator sport at the Olympic Games, with the 100m race being the centrepiece of the programme – the ultimate winner being crowned the fastest alive. 

Athletics is one of the oldest forms of competition – its prehistoric! – and is one of the most widely practiced sports the world over. Many of the events still competed in the Olympics today have changed little over thousands of years; Ancient Greek statues show discus throwers, artwork in Ancient Egyptian tombs depicts running races. Items like the discus and javelin are modelled on what was used at the Ancient Olympic Games. The events included under the umbrella of athletics are accessible to everyone and generally require very little in the way of equipment. Looking to get started? Just throw on a pair of shoes and hit the track!

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British Athletics on who they are and what they do