one of the most important and popular sports, combining walking and running various distances; long and high jumping; discus, javelin, and hammer throwing; the shot put; and such combined track and field events as the decathlon and pentathlon. There are more than 60 track and field events; the modern Olympic program includes 24 for men and 14 for women. Track and field events are included in the programs of the largest continental sports competitions—the European championships and the African, Asian, Balkan, Commonwealth, and Pan-American games.
Track and field is based on natural human movements and contributes to all-around physical development and better health. Its popularity is attributed to the general availability and great variety of events, the simplicity of the techniques involved, and the opportunity to vary the training load and perform the activities at any time of the year, not only on sports grounds but also under natural conditions. In the USSR and the other socialist countries, track and field is part of the state system of physical education; it is included in the physical education programs for schoolchildren at all types of educational institutions, the training programs for all types of sports, and the exercise lessons for older people. All levels of the all-Union athletic program “Ready for Labor and Defense!” use track and field events as a basic component. Track and field sections lead the activities of physical education groups, sports clubs, and voluntary sports societies.
Track and field events (first running, and later jumping, throwing, and so on) were included in the ancient Greek Olympic Games between 776 B.C. and a.d. 394; the pentathlon, consisting of running, long jumping, javelin and discus throwing, and wrestling, was added in 708. The development of modern track and field began in the 1830’s and 1840’s (the first competitions were held at Rugby School in England in 1837). In the 1880’s and 1890’s, amateur clubs and leagues were organized in many countries; in Russia, the first sports group was set up in 1888 in Tiarlevo near St. Petersburg. The extensive development of modern track and field is linked with the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 as the largest international competition; national track and field championships began to be held (annually in Russia during 1908–16). The All-Russian Amateur Track and Field Union was founded in 1911, uniting approximately 20 sports leagues from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, and other cities. Russian athletes participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1912; that same year the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), the guiding organization in the development of track and field and international competition, was founded.
The first Soviet track and field competition was held in Petrograd in 1918; in 1920 track and field was the main event in the Siberian (Omsk), Urals (Ekaterinburg), Middle Asian (Tashkent), and Northern Caucasian (Mineral’nye Vody) Olympics. The RSFSR track and field championship was held in Moscow in 1922, the first international meet (with athletes from Finland) in 1923, and the first All-Union Spartakiad in 1928.
Scientific methodological principles were established for a Soviet training system for track and field athletes in the 1930’s. The introduction in 1931 of the “Ready for Labor and Defense!” program made track and field one of the most popular sports. The development of Soviet track and field in the 1930’s and 1940’s is associated with such names as S. I. Znamenskii and G. I. Znamenskii, A. A. Pugachevskii, F. K. Vanin, E. M. Vasil’eva, M. I. Shamanova, T. A. Bykova, R. D. Liul’ko (running), N. G. Ozolin (jumping), and S. T. Liakhov (throwing), who by then were equal in ability to internationally known foreign athletes.
In 1948 the All-Union Track and Field Federation of the USSR joined the IAAF; as of Jan. 1, 1972, the national federations of 143 countries belonged to the IAAF. Soviet athletes have participated in the European championships since 1946 (held since 1934 in the even years between the Olympics) and in the Olympics since 1952. Track and field dual meets between Soviet athletes and those of other countries (the USA, the German Democratic Republic, France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, and Czechoslovakia), international competitions dedicated to the memories of outstanding athletes (for example, the Znamenskii Brothers Memorial in the USSR, the J. Kusocinski Memorial in Poland, the E. Roŝicky Memorial in Czechoslovakia), and meets sponsored by organizations and newspapers (Pravda and Izvestiia in the USSR, L’Humanité in France), have been held regularly since 1958. European track and field championships for juniors began in 1964, the European Cup competition in 1965, and the European indoor track and field championships in 1966. The European Athletic Association (EAA) was founded in 1968, combining 35 national federations, including that of the USSR (1972); in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, track and field federations were organized in Asia, Africa, Latin America, New Zealand, and Oceania.
In the period between 1952 and 1972, Soviet track and field athletes won 35 gold, 31 silver, and 41 bronze medals at the Olympics and 61 gold, 46 silver, and 51 bronze medals at the European championships. The Olympic champions were N. V. Avilov, P. G. Bolotnikov, A. P. Bondarchuk, V. F. Borzov (twice), L. I. Bragina, V. N. BrumeP, V. S. Golubnichii (twice), R. I. Klim, V. S. Krepkina, V. P. Kuts (twice), la. V. Lusis, L. I. Lysenko, F. G. Mel’nik, E. A. Ozolina, N. A. Ponomareva (twice), I. N. Press (twice), T. N. Press (three times), V. V. Rudenkov, V. D. Saneev (twice), L. V. Spirin, Iu. A. Tarmak, T. A. Tyshkevich, V. S. Tsybulenko, R. M. Shavlakadze, N. V. Chizhova, and I. V. Iaunzem.
The European champions included E. A. Arzhanov, V. M. Bogdanova, E. N. Bulanchik, N. Ia. Dumbadze, A. V. Ignat’ev, M. L. Itkina, N. Z. Karakulov, K. Ia. Lapteva (Maiugaia), N. G. Otkalenko, S. K. Popov, T. N. Sevriukova, E. I. Sechenova, N. V. Smirnitskaia, V. V. Kuznetsov, I. A. Ter-Ovanesian, I. R. Turova, A. P. Chudina, T. S. Shchelkanova, and L. M. Shcherbakov. World, European, and All-Union records in various track and field events have been broken by E. E. Gorchakova, E. V. Gushchin, G. la. Klimov, G. I. Zybina, M. P. Krivonosov, lu. N. Lituev, and V. I. Trusenev.
Significant contributions to the theory and practice of track and field have been made by such scholars and coaches as V. I. Alekseev, V. M. D’iachkov, D. P. Ionov, G. V. Korobkov, D. P. Markov, N. G. Ozolin, V. V. Sadovskii, Z. P. Sinitskii, G. G. Suliev, L. S. Khomenkov, O. Ia. Grigalka, N. N. Den-isov, G. I. Nikiforov, I. P. Sergeev, A. L. Fruktov, and V. M. Iagodin.
The Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR and the regular participation by Soviet athletes in the major international competitions have in many ways furthered the subsequent development of Soviet track and field in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Modern sports arenas are being built, the network of specialized sports schools for children and adolescents and track and field sections in sports clubs and societies is being expanded, and the scientific method of training coaches and teachers is being perfected. In 1972, 6 million people were involved in track and field in the USSR, including 1,700 masters of sports, 14,800 candidates for master of sports and first-class sportsmen, 96 international class masters, approximately 200 Honored Masters of Sports, and 58 Honored Coaches of the USSR in track and field.
Outside the USSR, track and field is most widely developed in the USA, the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Poland, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Rumania, and Kenya. Repeat winners at the Olympics and the other major international competitions include B. Cuthbert, S. De la Hunty-Strickland, and H. Elliott (Australia), A. Ferreira da Silva (Brazil), A. Bikila (Ethiopia), H. Kolehmainen, P. Nurmi, V. Ritola, and L. Viren (Finland), A. Hary and H. Rosendahl (Federal Republic of Germany), K. Balzer and R. Stecher (German Democratic Republic), D. Lowe (Great Britain), G. Zsivotzky (Hungary), P. O’Callaghan (Ireland), A. Pamich (Italy), Kip Keino (Kenya), F. Blankers-Koen (the Netherlands), P. Snell (New Zealand), J. Schmidt and I. Szewinska-Kirszenstein (Poland), I. Balas and V. Viscopoleanu (Rumania), and R. Beamon, R. Mathias, A. Oerter, J. Owens, B. Richards, W. Rudolph, and W. Tyus (USA).
N. G. OZOLIN