Overview

Often seen as one of the showpiece sports on the Olympic Programme, athletics is a collection of 47 track and field events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing and walking.

Since 1896, athletics has been on the programme of each edition of the Games of the Olympiad. Its presence on the Games programme has allowed its popularity to increase across the world. This popularity was also strengthened by the creation of the IAAF in 1912. Women’s events appeared for the first time at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, while the men’s programme was standardised as of the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. Although at the beginning women were authorised to participate in only some events, today their programme is almost identical to that of the men.

Athletics is Team Qatar’s most successful Olympic sport with two bronze medals and one silver. Mohammed Suleiman won Qatar’s first-ever Olympic medal at the Barcelona ’92 Olympics with a bronze in the 1500m. Mutaz Barshim became Qatar’s most successful-ever Olympian when he won silver in the high jump at Rio 2016 to add to the bronze that he won at London 2012.

Qatar hosted the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 for the first time in the Middle East.