Define Track Events?

Track events consist of sprint, middle-and long-distance races that take place on the athletics track as well as walking and marathon events that take place off the track, and the relay, steeplechase and hurdles races. Most of these events are run by both men and women.

Example:Sprints-60 m/100 m/200 m/400 mMiddle-distance-800 m/1500 m/3000 mLong-distance-5000 m/10000 mHurdles-60 m/100 m/110 m/400 m/3000 m steeplechaseRelays-4x100 m relays/4x400 relays

Define Field Events?

Field events which take place away from the track in an athletics stadium encompass the long jump, high jump, triple jump, pole vault, shot put, discus, javelin and the hammer events. All of these demand different skills from the participants and have their own sets of rules.

Example:Jumps:Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Pole vaultThrows:Shot Put, Discus Throw, Hammer Throw, Javelin Throw

History of Athletics Events

The history of athletics its roots in human prehistory. The first recorded organized athletics events at a sports festival are the Ancient Olympic Games. At the first Games in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, only one event was contested: the stadion footrace and the first Olympic winner was Koroibos. In later years further running competitions have been added. Also in the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, four of the events are part of the track and field we have even today. The long jump, the javelin throw, the discus throw and the stadion foot race.Athletics events were also present at the Panhellenic Games in Greece around this period, and they become known to Rome in 200 BC. In the Middle Ages new track and field events began developing in parts of Northern Europe. The stone put and weight throw competitions popular among Celtic societies were precursors to the modern shot put and hammer throw events. Also the pole vault, was polular in the Northern European Lowlands in the 18th century.Modern competitions in athletics, took place for the first time in the 19th century. Usually they were organised by educational institutions, military organizations and sports clubs as competitions between rival establishments. In these competitions the hurdling were introduced for the first time. Also, in the 19th century the first national associations have been established and organized the first national competitions. In 1880 the Amateur Athletic Association of England start organizing the annual AAA Championships while in United States in 1876 took place for the first time the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships first by the New York Athletic Club.The establishment of the modern Olympic Games in Athens at 1896 marked a new era for track and field. The Olympic athletics programmed, comprising track and field events plus a marathon race, contained many of the foremost sporting competitions of the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Olympics also consolidated the use of metric measurements in international track and field events, both for race distances and for measuring jumps and throws. The events of track and field have been expanded in the following years.In 1912 the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) was established, becoming the international governing body for athletics, having the amateurism as one of its founding principles for the sport. The first continental track and field competition was the 1919 South American Championships followed by the European Athletics Championships in 1934. In the 1928 Summer Olympics women competed for the first time. Furthermore, major athletics competitions for disabled athletes were first introduced at the 1960 Summer Paralympics.From the 1960s, the athletics gained more exposure through television coverage. After over half a century of amateurism, the amateur status of the sport began to be displaced by growing professionalism in the late 1970s. In 1982 The IAAF abandoned amateurism, and later changed its name as the International Association of Athletics Federations. The following year IAAF established the World Championships in Athletics the first ever global competition for athletics which became one of track and field's most prestigious competitions along with the Olympics.The IAAF World Championships in Athletics became a fully professional competition with the introduction of prize money in 1997. Also in 1998 the IAAF Golden League increased the professionalism of athletics. In 2010, the series was replaced by the more lucrative IAAF Diamond League which comprises meetings in Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East which are the first ever worldwide annual series of track and field meetings.Track and Field in the Philippines

Philippine Olympic Committee may be said that organized sports was introduced in the Philippines during the American occupation with the formation of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) in January 1911 with then Governor General William Cameron Forbes as the founding President. In 1913, the country hosted the inaugural Far Eastern Olympics which was subsequently renamed Far Eastern Championship Games (or simply Far Eastern Games) after the International Olympic Committee President Baron Pierre de Coubertin suggested the word Olympics be dropped. China, Japan and the Philippines competed in the first Far Eastern Games organized by the PAAF.

Filipino Athletics Champions

Simeon ToribioSimeon Toribio, the pride of Zamboanga, was considered the "Filipino Field Athlete of the Half Century" and "Asia's Best Athlete" for winning gold medals in the high jump event in the Far Eastern Olympics in 1921, 1923, 1927, 1930 and 1934 and a bronze medal in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.According to author Jorge Afable, Toribio could have won the gold medal, if not only for the "call of nature." It was a grueling four-hour competition to jump over the bar raised at 6 feet and six inches high. Toribio, who once made the jump, failed to overcome it the second time because he was distressed by call of nature. Before this, Toribio narrowly missed the bronze in the 1928 Amsterdam Games.In 1930, Toribio was awarded the Helms World Trophy for being Asia's greatest athlete. He became a lawyer and a congressman representing Bohol province where he later settled.Miguel WhiteMiguel White, a former army officer with an American father, represented the Philippines in the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he must have met American track and field legend Jesse Owens. White brought home a bronze medal in 400-meter hurdles event.Nepomuceno and CatalonTwo Filipinos - David Nepomuceno and Fortunato Catalon - were considered world-class sprinters in the 1920s. The two, rivals in the local scene, have hauled gold medals from the Far Eastern Games.In 1924, Nepomuceno represented the Philippines in the Paris Olympiad where he ran the 100 meters in 10.8 seconds and was clocked 22.5 seconds in the 200-meter dash. In 1925, Nepomuceno ran the 100 meters in only two-tenths of a second short of the world record then.Meanwhile, Charles Paddock, the fastest man in the 1920s, in a visit to the Philippines, described Fortunato Catalon as your "champion of champions".Andres FrancoAndres Franco won a gold medal in the high jump event at the 1951 New Delhi Asiad and a bronze medal in the same event at the 1954 Manila Asiad.Other Male SprintersGenaro Cabrera, who finished the 100-meter race in 10.7 seconds, won the silver medal at the 1954 Manila Asiad. Isaac Gomez won a bronze in the same event at the 1958 Tokyo Asiad while Rogelio Onofre added another bronze at the 1962 Jakarta Asiad. Enrique Bautista also clinched the bronze in the 200-meter dash at the 1958 Tokyo Asiad. In the 400-meter race, Pablo Somblingo won the silver at the 1958 Tokyo Asiad and Isidro del Prado also got the silver at the 1986 Seoul Asiad.Lydia De VegaLydia de Vega-Mercado was considered Asia's fastest woman in the 1980s. As Asia's sprint queen, she ran away with the gold medal in the 100-meter dash in the 1982 New Delhi Asiad and duplicated the feat in the 1986 Seoul Asiad where she was clocked 11.53 seconds. She also brought home a silver medal in the 200-meter race from the 1986 Seoul Asiad. De Vega now serves as a councilor of her native Meycauayan town in Bulacan province.Mona SulaimanBefore Lydia de Vega entered the scene, there was Mona Sulaiman, a Mindanao-born sprinter who was declared Asia's fastest woman when she won two gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash events at the 1962 Jakarta Asiad. She finished the 100-meter race in 11.93 seconds ahead of two Japanese runners and the 200-meter sprint in 24.63 seconds ahead of a Japanese and a Sri Lankan. She also won a bronze in shot put event at the 1962 Jakarta Asiad.Inocencia SolisInocencia Solis was declared the fastest women in All of Asia in 1958 when she finished the 100-meter sprint in 12.5 seconds ahead of two Japanese runners in the Tokyo Asian Games. Before this, she won the bronze medal in the 200-meter dash event at the 1954 Manila Asiad. She was from Iloilo City.Amelita AlanesAmelita Alanes won the silver medal in the 200-meter dash at the 1970 Bangkok Asiad.Rogelia FerrerRogelia Ferrer, a hurdler, was an Asian Games medallist in the 1950s. Ferrer was born in Negros Occidental province.Lolita LagrosasLolita Lagrosas had collected a total of five Asiad medals. She won the silver medals in women's high jump event at the 1958 Tokyo Asiad and 1966 Bangkok Asiad and the bronze in the same event at the 1970 Bangkok Asiad. She clinched the bronze medals in pentathlon at the 1966 and 1970 Bangkok Asiads.Visitacion BadanaVisitacion Badana brought home the gold medal in the long jump event from the 1958 Tokyo Asiad.Josephine dela VinaJosephine dela Vina clinched the gold medal in the discuss throw event at the 1966 Bangkok Asiad. Before this, she won the bronze in the same event at the 1962 Jakarta Asiad.Elma MurosElma Muros-Posadas, a sprinter, hurdler and long jumper, has collected a total of 13 gold medals from her numerous stints at the Southeast Asian Games. She also brought home a bronze medal in 400-meter hurdles from the 1990 Beijing Asiad and another bronze in long jump from the 1994 Hiroshima Asiad.Relay ChampionsThe Philippine men's team won the gold medals in the 4 x 100 meter relay at the 1958 Tokyo Asiad and 1962 Jakarta Asiad and the bronze medals in 1951, 1954 and 1966. In the 4 x 400 meter relay, the Philippine men's team won bronze in 1951, 1954, 1958 and 1986.Meanwhile, the Philippine women's team won the gold medal in the 4 X 100 meter relay at the 1962 Jakarta Asiad and the silver at the 1958 Tokyo Asiad. It won the bronze medals at the 1954 Manila Asiad and at the 1978 Bangkok Asiad.Other Track and Field StarsAmong other athletes who have rewarded the country with honor by their sterling performance in track and field are Aurelio Amante, Leopoldo Anillo, Marcelina Alonzo, Roberta Anore, Jovencio Ardina, Erasma Arellano, Gaspar Azares, Visitacion Badana, Lerma Balauitan Ciriaco Baronda, Hector Begeo, Tomas Bennet, Eduardo Buenavista, Manolita Cinco, Artemio Cortez, and Isabel Cruz;Eusebio Ensong, Susano Erang, Romero Gido, Arsenio Jasmin, Lolita Lagrosas, Honesto Larce, Erlinda Lavandia, Bievenido Llaneda, Tokal Mokalam, Cristabel Martes;Cipriano Niera, Irene Penuela, Jaime Pimentel, Nilo Ramirez, Visitacion Ribagorda, Ernesto Rodriguez, Amelita Saberon, Fracisca Sanopal, Vivencia Subido, Lydia Sylvanetto, Lucila Tolentino and Roy Vence.