Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common kinds of athletics competitions are track and discipline, street jogging, pass country strolling, and race taking walks.

The effects of racing events are decided by way of finishing role (or time, where measured), at the same time as the jumps and throws are won by way of the athlete that achieves the best or furthest measurement from a chain of tries. The simplicity of the competitions, and the lack of a need for expensive system, makes athletics one of the maximum not unusual types of sports activities in the international. Athletics is ordinarily an individual game, except for relay races and competitions which combine athletes' performances for a crew score, inclusive of cross country.

Organized athletics are traced back to the ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC. The rules and layout of the contemporary events in athletics have been described in Western Europe and North the us within the 19th and early 20th century, and have been then unfold to other parts of the sector. Most modern-day top level meetings are held under the auspices of global Athletics, the global governing body for the sport of athletics, or its member continental and national federations