Athletics – sport from antiquity
Every child comes into contact with athletics as a school sport more or less voluntarily. Once a year, the students can put their athletic skills to the test at the National Youth Games. Athletics meets with only moderate enthusiasm among school children – it has always been the supreme discipline at the Olympics. The first Olympic Games that can be documented today took place in 776 BC – with just one discipline, the 192 meter long stadium run. Even the Stone Age people measured their physical abilities, for example in the form of races.
Athletics: Versatile and time-honoured
The modern athletics competition celebrated its birth on March 5, 1864, in England. On this day, teams from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge competed against each other. Just two years later, the first national athletics competition with twelve disciplines took place. By the time the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896, athletics had already spread around the world and remains a core Olympic sport to this day.
Athletics is actually a collective term for different disciplines of running, jumping and throwing . These disciplines have undergone many changes over time. The Olympic Games today have 24 disciplines for men and 23 for women. Although there are also non-Olympic track and field disciplines – the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), founded in 1912, the umbrella organization of the national track and field associations, only recognizes standardized running distances for world records.
Decathlon and heptathlon for all-rounders
Athletics training in childhood is still very diverse. Depending on preferences and talents, however, priorities are set for young people. For all-rounders, there is the decathlon for men and the heptathlon for women . Athletes in these disciplines must have great versatility and stamina. Both competitions are held on two consecutive days.
The decathlon consists of four running disciplines (100m, 400m, 1500m and 110m hurdles), three throwing disciplines (shot put, discus throw and javelin throw) and three jumping disciplines (long jump, high jump and pole vault). The heptathlon consists of three running disciplines (200m, 800m and 100m hurdles), two throwing disciplines (shot put and javelin throw) and two jumping disciplines (high jump and long jump).
Athletics: injuries and risks
Injuries from external forces, as in team sports, are uncommon in athletics. Because track and field is such a diverse sport, you can’t actually  speak of typical track and field injuries . Instead, you have to differentiate between the different disciplines, because the training priorities are also set very differently here. Nevertheless, all track and field athletes should generally take care to protect their joints in order to avoid injuries. The training sessions also include strength and endurance training.
Thorough warm-up training geared specifically to the muscles that are frequently used is particularly important in order to prevent bruises , cramps and strains. A strong torso and well-trained arms and legs are the basic requirements for a successful track and field athlete. Most injuries in athletics are related to fatigue and overexertion, technical errors can also be the cause. In the following, we briefly present the most important disciplines and their specific risk of injury.
