Athletics at the Summer Olympics
Governing body	IAAF
Events	47 (men: 24; women: 23)
Games
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 2004 • 2008
Medalists (men • women) • Records

Athletics, known as Track and Field in the United States, has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Events

The events contested have varied widely.

[edit] Men's events

No new events have been added to the men's athletics programme since the 1952 addition of the short racewalk. The roster of events has not changed since then, with the exception of the omission of the long racewalk in 1976. The long racewalk is the only event held for men but not included on the women's programme.

A total of 52 different events have been held in the men's competition. 24 comprise the current list of events. Many of the discontinued events were similar to modern ones but at different lengths, especially in the steeplechasing, hurdling, and racewalking disciplines. Team racing events have been eliminated after appearing in six early editions of the Games. The athletic triathlon (an unusual event, held only once and featuring gymnasts competing in the long jump, shot put, and 100 metre dash) and pentathlon multi-discipline events were phased out in favor of the decathlon, and the medley relay replaced with even-leg relays. Standing jump competitions are no longer held, nor are the various modified throwing events which were experimented with in 1908 and 1912.

[edit] Women's events

Women's competition in athletics began at the 1928 Summer Olympics

[edit] Nations

Nearly every nation that has competed at the Olympics has entered the athletics competition. The number in each box represents the number of athletes the nation sent.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Nation	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	Years
Argentina (ARG)	–	–	–	–	–	–	10
Australasia (ANZ)	–	–	–	9	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
Australia (AUS)	1	1	2	-	-	4	9	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	25
Austria (AUT)	-	1	-	3	12	-	6	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	23
Belgium (BEL)	-	-	-	6	2	42	17	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	22
Bohemia (BOH)	-	4	-	3	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
Brazil (BRA)	–	–	–	–	–	–	8
Bulgaria (BUL)	–	–	–	–	–	–	4
Canada (CAN)	-	2	5	27	18	14	27	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	23
Chile (CHI)	1	-	-	-	6	2	3
China (CHN)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	6
Croatia (CRO)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	4
Cuba (CUB)	-	-	1	-	-	-	–	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	-	-	X	X	X	X	17
Czechoslovakia (TCH)	-	-	-	-	-	16	17	18	5	31	13	25	18	30	12	14	32	15	24	-	22	18	-	-	-	16
Denmark (DEN)	3	4	-	8	14	18	9	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	24
Ecuador (ECU)	–	–	–	–	–	–	3
Egypt (EGY)	–	–	–	–	–	2	1
Estonia (EST)	-	-	-	-	-	7	10	X	X	X	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	9
Finland (FIN)	-	-	-	15	23	26	52	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	22
France (FRA)	6	23	-	19	32	59	70	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	24
Germany (GER)	5	6	9	21	24	-	–	X	X	X	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	12
Great Britain (GBR)	5	9	3	126	65	41	65	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	25
Greece (GRE)	29	2	10	12	5	9	12	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	25
Haiti (HAI)	–	–	–	–	–	–	3
Hungary (HUN)	3	9	2	20	27	-	16	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	24
Iceland (ISL)	-	-	-	-	1	-	–
India (IND)	-	1	-	-	-	3	7	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	22
Ireland (IRL)	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	19
Italy (ITA)	-	2	-	13	14	24	36	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	23
Japan (JPN)	-	-	-	-	2	11	8	X	X	X	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	16
South Korea (KOR)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	12
Latvia (LAT)	–	–	–	–	–	–	10
Luxembourg (LUX)	-	-	-	-	2	7	3	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	22
Mexico (MEX)	–	–	–	–	–	–	11
Monaco (MON)	-	-	-	-	-	2	1
Netherlands (NED)	-	-	-	20	1	11	19	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	22
New Zealand (NZL)	-	-	-	-	-	2	1
Norway (NOR)	-	2	-	11	23	16	10	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	23
Philippines (PHI)	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
Poland (POL)	–	–	–	–	–	–	14
Portugal (POR)	-	-	-	-	4	-	3	X	X	X	X	X	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	19
Russia (RUS)	-	-	-	1	35	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	6
Serbia (SRB)	-	-	-	-	3	-	–
South Africa (RSA)	-	-	3	9	7	13	12	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	16
Spain (ESP)	-	-	-	-	-	14	13
Sweden (SWE)	1	8	-	33	108	63	33	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	24
Switzerland (SUI)	-	-	1	1	1	13	17	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	23
Soviet Union (URS)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	-	X	-	-	-	-	9
Turkey (TUR)	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
United States (USA)	10	43	197	89	109	90	96	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	24
Yugoslavia (YUG)	–	–	–	–	–	–	5
No. of nations	10	15	10	20	27	25	40
No. of athletes	64	117	233	446	556	509	657

[edit] Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	311	238	189	738
2	Soviet Union (URS)	64	55	74	193
3	Great Britain (GBR)	49	78	61	188
4	Finland (FIN)	48	35	30	113
5	East Germany (GDR)	38	36	35	109
6	Poland (POL)	22	17	13	52
7	Kenya (KEN)	21	28	19	68
8	Australia (AUS)	19	24	25	68
9	Sweden (SWE)	19	21	41	81
10	Italy (ITA)	19	15	25	59
11	Russia (RUS)	18	22	20	60
12	Ethiopia (ETH)	18	6	14	38
13	Germany (GER)	15	20	34	69
14	Jamaica (JAM)	13	24	15	52
15	France (FRA)	13	21	24	58
16	Canada (CAN)	13	14	25	52
17	West Germany (FRG)	12	14	17	43
18	Romania (ROU)	11	14	10	35
19	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	11	8	5	24
20	Cuba (CUB)	10	13	14	37
21	Hungary (HUN)	9	13	17	39
22	New Zealand (NZL)	9	1	9	19
23	Unified Team (EUN)	7	11	3	21
24	Japan (JPN)	7	7	9	23
25	Norway (NOR)	7	5	8	20
26	Greece (GRE)	6	12	11	29
27	South Africa (RSA)	6	11	6	23
28	Morocco (MAR)	6	5	7	18
29	Netherlands (NED)	6	3	6	15
30	Bulgaria (BUL)	5	7	6	18
31	China (CHN)	5	3	7	15
32	Germany (EUA)	4	18	8	30
33	Belarus (BLR)	4	5	8	17
34	Brazil (BRA)	4	3	7	14
35	Portugal (POR)	4	2	4	10
36	Ireland (IRL)	4	2	0	6
37	Czech Republic (CZE)	4	1	3	8
38	Belgium (BEL)	3	6	2	11
39	Mexico (MEX)	3	5	2	10
40	Ukraine (UKR)	3	2	10	15
41	Algeria (ALG)	3	1	2	6
42	Lithuania (LTU)	3	1	1	5
43	Spain (ESP)	2	4	5	11
44	Bahamas (BAH)	2	3	3	8
45	Argentina (ARG)	2	3	0	5
46	Estonia (EST)	2	1	2	5
47	Cameroon (CMR)	2	0	0	2
48	Nigeria (NGR)	1	4	8	13
49	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	1	4	5	10
50	Austria (AUT)	1	2	4	7
51	Tunisia (TUN)	1	2	1	4
52	Slovenia (SLO)	1	1	1	3
53	South Korea (KOR)	1	1	0	2
53	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	1	0	2
53	Ecuador (ECU)	1	1	0	2
56	Panama (PAN)	1	0	2	3
57	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	1	0	1	2
57	Mozambique (MOZ)	1	0	1	2
57	Uganda (UGA)	1	0	1	2
60	Burundi (BDI)	1	0	0	1
60	Bahrain (BRN)	1	0	0	1
60	Dominican Republic (DOM)	1	0	0	1
60	Luxembourg (LUX)	1	0	0	1
60	Syria (SYR)	1	0	0	1
65	Switzerland (SUI)	0	6	2	8
66	Latvia (LAT)	0	4	1	5
67	Namibia (NAM)	0	4	0	4
68	Denmark (DEN)	0	2	4	6
69	Turkey (TUR)	0	2	2	4
70	Chile (CHI)	0	2	0	2
70	India (IND)	0	2	0	2
70	Tanzania (TAN)	0	2	0	2
70	Yugoslavia (YUG)	0	2	0	2
74	Iceland (ISL)	0	1	1	2
74	Sri Lanka (SRI)	0	1	1	2
74	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	0	1	1	2
77	Bohemia (BOH)	0	1	0	1
77	Croatia (CRO)	0	1	0	1
77	Côte d'Ivoire (CIV)	0	1	0	1
77	Haiti (HAI)	0	1	0	1
77	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	0	1	0	1
77	Senegal (SEN)	0	1	0	1
77	Sudan (SUD)	0	1	0	1
77	Zambia (ZAM)	0	1	0	1
85	British West Indies (BWI)	0	0	2	2
85	Philippines (PHI)	0	0	2	2
87	Australasia (ANZ)	0	0	1	1
87	Barbados (BAR)	0	0	1	1
87	Colombia (COL)	0	0	1	1
87	Djibouti (DJI)	0	0	1	1
87	Eritrea (ERI)	0	0	1	1
87	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	1	1
87	Venezuela (VEN)	0	0	1	1
Total 93 nations		883	891	883	2657

v • d • e Athletics at the Summer Olympics 1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 List of medalists (men, women) • List of Olympic records

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