Athletics

Running, jumping, throwing, and combined events.

People in Athletics

43 profiles

Athlete

Usain Bolt

Running 100 metres in 9.58 seconds.

Athlete

Eliud Kipchoge

Winning two Olympic marathons and running a staged marathon distance in under two hours.

Athlete

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Winning two Olympic 100-metre titles and five world titles in the event.

Athlete

Cathy Freeman

Winning Olympic 400-metre gold in Sydney after lighting the Games’ cauldron.

Athlete

Neeraj Chopra

Winning India’s first Olympic athletics gold with a javelin throw.

Athlete

Hicham El Guerrouj

Winning the Olympic 1500m and 5000m double in Athens.

Athlete

Jim Thorpe

Excelling in Olympic combined events and professional team sports.

Athlete

Haile Gebrselassie

Winning Olympic distance titles before breaking marathon records.

Athlete

Jesse Owens

Winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Athlete

Carl Lewis

Winning nine Olympic gold medals in sprinting and long jump.

Athlete

Abebe Bikila

Winning consecutive Olympic marathons, the first barefoot.

Athlete

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Excelling in both the heptathlon and long jump.

Athlete

Florence Griffith Joyner

Setting the women’s 100m and 200m world records in 1988.

Athlete

Allyson Felix

Winning eleven Olympic medals across a long sprinting career.

Athlete

Faith Kipyegon

Winning three consecutive Olympic 1500m titles.

Athlete

Wilma Rudolph

Winning three sprint gold medals at the 1960 Olympics.

Athlete

Yulimar Rojas

Raising the standard in women’s triple jump.

Athlete

P. T. Usha

Becoming one of India’s leading sprinters and hurdlers.

Athlete

Caster Semenya

Winning two Olympic 800m titles.

Athlete

Kipchoge Keino

Helping establish Kenya as a force in international distance running.

Athlete

Kenenisa Bekele

Winning Olympic distance golds and eleven senior world cross-country titles.

Athlete

Mutaz Essa Barshim

Sharing Olympic high-jump gold and winning three world titles.

Athlete

Fermín Cacho

Winning the Olympic 1500m title in Barcelona.

Athlete

Nawal El Moutawakel

Winning the first Olympic women’s 400-metre hurdles title.

Athlete

Tegla Loroupe

Becoming the first African woman to hold the marathon world record.

Athlete

Derartu Tulu

Winning two Olympic 10,000-metre titles.

Athlete

Emil Zátopek

Winning the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and marathon at the same Olympics in 1952.

Athlete

Maria Mutola

Winning Olympic gold and three outdoor world titles in the 800 metres.

Athlete

Paavo Nurmi

Winning nine Olympic gold medals in distance running.

Athlete

Julien Alfred

Winning Saint Lucia’s first Olympic medal with gold in the women’s 100 metres at Paris 2024.

Athlete

Sebastian Coe

The middle-distance runner who won consecutive Olympic 1500-metre titles and later led London’s 2012 Games.

Athlete

Tirunesh Dibaba

Winning three Olympic gold medals in distance running.

Athlete

Daley Thompson

Winning consecutive Olympic decathlon titles in 1980 and 1984.

Athlete

Sifan Hassan

Winning Olympic gold on the track and in the marathon.

Athlete

Michael Johnson

Winning the Olympic 200m and 400m double in Atlanta.

Athlete

Valerie Adams

Winning two Olympic shot put titles and four consecutive world titles.

Athlete

Ackeem Blake

Winning world sprint and relay medals for Jamaica.

Athlete

Alexander Doom

Winning individual and relay world indoor 400-metre titles.

Athlete

Sharon Cherop

Winning the 2012 Boston Marathon

Athlete

Tobi Amusan

Winning Nigeria’s first world athletics title in 2022.

Athlete

Imrich Bugár

Winning the first men’s world discus title in 1983.

Athlete

Alonso Edward

Winning the 200 metres silver medal at the 2009 World Championships.

Athlete

Nickel Ashmeade

Winning Olympic and world relay gold with Jamaica.