Definition and Types of Athletics – Athletics is a sport that is carried out in various ways, including walking, throwing and jumping. In athletics, there are many branches in it as well as many definitions that explain athletics.
Even though it sounds foreign and not very popular, compared to other sports, athletics is the oldest sport and is contested at sporting events, you know. For more about the meaning and types of athletics, see the explanation until the end!
Definition of Athletics
Etymologically, athletics is related to the amalgamation of several types of physical sports. Athletics, comes from the Greek word athlon, which means contest or race. Referring to the etymological understanding of athletics, the word athletics can be defined as a competition that has certain sports branches and these sports include jumping, running, walking and throwing.
When referring to the notion of athletics in the encyclopedia, then athletics is defined as a competition as well as athletic sports, but in terminology, the word athletics can be interpreted as a form of an activity carried out by humans in everyday life, where the activity is contested in the form of running , throws and jumps.
Thus, the notion of athletics according to the encyclopedia can be concluded as one of the sports which consists of several combinations of types of physical sports, for example throwing, jumping, running and walking. Athletics is also defined as physical sports that use track and field such as high jump, walking, running and javelin throwing. Athletics sports are sports in which there are several other types of sports that use movements in everyday life such as running, jumping and throwing.
History of Athletics Branches
It is thought that athletics appeared in the Egyptian civilization around 3,000 BC. It was during these times that athletics was thought to have appeared for the first time. However, at that time the sport did not have a name, until in early 1829 BC a track and field competition was finally held called the Tailteann Games at the Lugnasad Festival.
Then the athletics sports began to be held at the first Olympics, namely in 776 BC. In that year, the Olympics with athletics was the only sporting event that was held, namely in the form of running competitions and stades. Then as time went on, requests to hold the Olympics mushroomed, so that creativity in the field of athletics also developed.
Since then, people have become more fond of athletic contests like the Goths, Teutonic and Celtic and the Romans. However, at that time athletic contests were often associated with combat training.
Then in the Middle Ages, noble children began to be trained to run, wrestle, ride and fight using various weapons such as arrows or other selected weapons. Also around 776 BC, contests between rivals and between friends were common.
The athletics branch then continued until the 19th century. Entering the 19th century, formal organizations began to appear in modern events. Included in regular sports and training in the school regime at that time. The Royal Military College in Sandhurst even claims that it used regular sporting events in 1812 and 1825. Meanwhile, according to findings, the first sporting event was held by the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt in 1840 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
In the modern era, athletics is then present in almost every sporting event. In 1896, the modern Olympics then formed the basis of athletics and then in 1928, women were allowed to participate in athletics.
Various Kinds of Athletics
The athletics branch has several kinds and not just one. Here are some kinds of athletics.
1. Fast Walking Sports
The first branch of athletics is fast walking. Fast walking can be interpreted as a movement by stepping forward continuously, without any disconnection on the ground. When performing movements on fast walking, the position of one of the athlete’s feet must touch the ground, where the foot position must be the foundation of the leg must be straight.
In fast track athletics, it is not permissible for steps to be taken to fly or jump like when running. According to the rules of fast walking, the athlete’s feet must be fast, but the feet must still be on the ground, at least one foot must always be on the ground.
Speed walking is a sport with athletic numbers which is considered to be carried out with all seriousness. In Indonesia itself, the sprint race is a race with numbers contested in the national athletics championships since 1978. The distance that is contested for female athletes is 5 km and 10 km, while for male athletes it starts from 10 km and 20 km.
2. Running Sports
Running is a sport that is included in the type of athletic sports. Running can be defined as a fast forward movement, where at certain moments the athlete’s feet will be in the air and not touching the ground.
When carrying out running movements, athletes will need muscle strength, speed and good coordination of the limbs, so that athletes will be able to reach the finish line. In running athletics, it is divided into several running numbers, namely as follows.
a. Short distance run
In short distance running, run the number of runs, starting from 100 m to 400 m. Generally when athletes compete in short distance running, athletes will use a squat start, whether the distance is 100 m, 200 m or 400 m.
Athletes who compete with the 200 m distance will run at a higher average speed, compared to athletes who run the 100 m distance. Then, athletes who run with a distance of 400 m, are sprints with a track length of 400 m.
Short distance running, is a branch of sport that takes into account the speed of athletes to reach the finish stage. The faster the athlete gets to the finish stage, the better the race results will be.
b. Long distance running
In addition to running short distances, there are also running sports that are long distances. Long-distance running, also known as a marathon. In long-distance running, the distance starts from 3 km, 5 km, 10 km to over 10 km. In contrast to short distance running using a squat start, long distance running using a standing start.
c. relay race
The next running number is the relay race. In the relay race, the athletes must run while carrying a stick with certain sizes, where the stick will then be handed over to the next athlete in a predetermined change area.
In general, the relay numbers that are contested are 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m. When doing a relay race, every athlete needs good teamwork, so that the process of handing over the baton can run well.
d. Hurdles
Hurdles is a running sport performed by athletes quickly to cover a certain predetermined distance by passing several obstacles, namely in the form of a goal and a low bar.
3. Sports Jumping
Jumping is an athletic sport which is further divided into several types. Here are some types of jumping sports.
- The long jump is a jumping movement forward by lifting the leg up on the front of the body. This movement is carried out in order to be able to carry the body weight of the athlete as long as possible so that he remains in the air so that he can reach as far as possible.
- High jump, is one of the athletic sports carried out by athletes by jumping high to cross the bar at a certain height. The high jump sport requires abdominal and leg muscle strength, the goal is to achieve movement at the highest jump.
- Pole vault, or pole vault is a branch in athletics which is performed by athletes by jumping over a bar at a certain height using a long and flexible pole.
4. Bullet Reject
The fourth branch of athletics is shot put. In shot put sports, athletes are required to do shot put. Shot put is a sport that is carried out by placing a bullet in the form of a round iron ball which is carried out between the athlete’s neck and shoulders. Then, the shot put athlete will throw the bullet by pushing with one hand as far as possible.
The bullets or iron balls used have varying weights, depending on the sports number of the shot put being contested. The shot put sport itself was contested at the Olympics in 1896 with bullet weights or iron balls ranging from 2.76 kg to 7.26 kg and depending on the gender of the athlete doing the shot put.
5. Javelin Throw
The javelin throw is one of the athletic branches that is often contested in sporting events in the world. Not only that, javelin throwing has become one of the most popular sports.
In javelin throwing, athletes will throw a spear that has a sharp end and must be thrown as far as possible. When throwing the javelin there are basic techniques that must be known by athletes, namely the correct way to hold the javelin, carry, techniques for making prefixes and how to throw the javelin.
The javelin used in competitions consists of two parts, namely having a tip made of metal and a body made of wood or metal. Then on the body of the javelin, there is a rope that is wrapped around as a balance point or also known as the point of gravity of the javelin.
The javelin used for competitions also has an official size, according to the gender of the athlete. For male athletes, the weight of the javelin used is 800 grams and the length of the javelin ranges from 2.6 to 2.7 m. Whereas for female athletes, the weight of the javelin reaches 600 grams and the length of the javelin ranges from 2.2 to 2.3 m.
6. Discus Throw
Discus throwing is one of the number competitions in athletics which is carried out by throwing using wooden objects in the form of plates and iron belts or other flat materials. Discus throwing athletes must be able to throw a discus at least a maximum of three times in each competition.
Before the athlete throws the discus, the athlete must make at least two rounds before throwing the discus as far as possible. Then to get the farthest throwing distance, there are several rules that must be obeyed by athletes.
7. Hammer Throw
Apart from discus throwing, hammer throwing is an athletic sport that is performed by jumping. The hammer is an object in this one athletic sport that is thrown with a heavier weight.
In the hammer throwing sport, the athlete must throw a heavy round object at certain predetermined distances by rotating it into the air using the help of a wire or rope attached to the hammer.
8. Archery
The last type of athletics is archery. Archery is a sport that uses a bow to shoot arrows. At first, this archery sport began 5000 years ago and archery was originally used as a weapon when fighting and hunting animals.
When doing archery, athletes must have the right technique so that their arrows are able to point to the center of the board as the main target to get the highest score.
In archery, the long distance to add six arrows is six draws. As for distances of 50 m and 30 m, athletes must add three arrows.
That is an explanation of athletics, understanding, brief history and the types of sports included in athletics.