Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Show name	Today
genre	NewsTalk
creator	Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr.
Presenter	Weekday editionMatt Lauer (1997–present)Ann Curry (2011–present)Natalie Morales (2011–present)Al Roker (1996–present)Savannah Guthrie (2011–present)Hoda Kotb (2007–present)Kathie Lee Gifford (2008–present)Other:Willard Scott (1980–present)Weekend ''Today'' Lester Holt (2003–present) Saturdays: Amy Robach (2007–present)Jenna Wolfe (2007–present)Bill Karins (2009–present)Janice Huff (1995–present)
narrated	Dick Dudley (former)Fred Facey (1984–2006)Les Marshak (current)
theme music composer	John Williams
country	United States
num episodes	17,694 (as of May 14, 2011)
executive producer	Jim Bell
location	NBC StudiosNew York, New York
runtime	240 minutes (4 hours)
network	NBC
picture format	480i (16:9 SDTV),1080i (HDTV)
first aired	January 14, 1952
last aired	present
status	Returning series
related	Early Today
website	http://www.todayshow.com
directed by	Joe Michaels
slogan	Your day is Today }}

''Today'' (also referred to as ''The Today Show'') is an American morning news and talk show airing every morning on NBC. Debuting on January 14, 1952, it was the first of its genre on American television and in the world. The show is also the fourth-longest running American television series. Originally a two-hour program on weekdays, it expanded to Sundays (currently one hour) in 1987 and Saturdays (two hours) in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to three hours in 2000, and a fourth hour launched in 2007.

''Today'''s dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until the late 1980s, when it was overtaken by ABC's ''Good Morning America''. ''Today'' retook the Nielsen ratings lead the week of December 11, 1995, and has held onto that position every week since.

In 2002, ''Today'' was ranked #17 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Current cast

The first two hours of the show are anchored by Matt Lauer and Ann Curry, with broadcast meteorologist Al Roker, news anchor Natalie Morales, and Chief Legal Analyst Savannah Guthrie. Roker, Morales and Guthrie also serve as co-hosts of the third hour, while Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford co-host the fourth hour. Lauer and Curry typically appear with Roker, Morales and Guthrie at the very beginning of the third hour, occasionally staying on if breaking news warrants it. Weekend editions are anchored by Lester Holt, Amy Robach (Saturdays) and Jenna Wolfe (Sundays), all three of whom frequently contribute to the weekday show.

Guthrie and Morales substitute for Curry, while Guthrie, Holt, MSNBC host Willie Geist and ''Meet the Press'' anchor David Gregory cover for Lauer. CNBC anchor Carl Quintanilla and Saturday co-host Robach occasionally host, mainly during holidays.

Guthrie is also the main fill-in for Morales at the news desk, while Geist, Kotb, MSNBC host Tamron Hall, Quintanilla, Robach and Wolfe have also appeared as news anchor. Various NBC News correspondents appear at the news desk at weekends.

Regular correspondents include Chief White House correspondent and NBC Political Director Chuck Todd, Mike Leonard, Capitol Hill correspondent Kelly O'Donnell, Bob Dotson, Jamie Gangel, and Peter Alexander. Dr. Nancy Snyderman is the network's chief medical correspondent. Jean Chatzky, editor-at-large for Money Magazine, provides weekly financial segments. Sarah Haines is the online correspondent. CNBC correspondents, including Burnett, Amanda Drury, Melissa Francis and Melissa Lee, regularly report from the New York Stock Exchange, while MSNBC and Weather Channel correspondents are frequent contributors. Jenna Bush Hager is a special correspondent for the program.

History

The show's first broadcast aired on January 14, 1952. It was the brainchild of Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., who was then vice-president of NBC. Weaver was president of the company from 1953 to 1955, during which time ''Today's'' late-night companion ''The Tonight Show'' premiered. In pre-production, the show's proposed title was ''The Rise and Shine Revue''.

''Today'' was the first show of its genre when it signed on with original host Dave Garroway. The show blended national news headlines, interviews with newsmakers, lifestyle features, other light news and gimmicks (including the presence of the chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs as the show's mascot during the early years), and local station news updates. It has spawned several other shows of a similar type, including ABC's ''Good Morning America'', and CBS' ''The Early Show''. In other countries the format was copied – most notably in the United Kingdom with the BBC's ''Breakfast'' and ITV's ''Good Morning Britain''. In Canada with ''Canada AM'' on CTV and in Australia with the Sunrise (TV program) on the Seven Network.

When ''Today'' started, it was seen live only in the Eastern and Central time zones, broadcasting three hours per morning but seen for only two hours in each time zone. Since 1958, ''Today'' is tape-delayed for the different time zones. Partly to accommodate host Dave Garroway's declining health, the program ceased live broadcasts in the summer of 1958, opting instead to broadcast an edition taped the prior afternoon. The experiment, which drew criticism from many sides, ended when John Chancellor replaced Garroway in July 1961. For many years ''Today'' was a two-hour program, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. in all time zones except for Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. Virgin Islands, until NBC expanded it to three hours on October 2, 2000. A fourth hour was added on September 10, 2007. In some markets (such as Boston, Massachusetts, on WHDH-TV), the third and fourth hours of ''Today'' are aired on further tape delay.

During the first three hours, local affiliates are offered a five-minute window at :25 and :55 to insert a local newsbreak, although the show provides additional segments for those affiliates who do not do so.

When breaking news stories warrant, ''Today'' will broadcast a live West Coast edition. The live updates typically do not last longer than the 7:00 a.m. (PT) hour and once completed, will return to the taped East Coast feed. When the anchors welcome the viewers to the show, they will note the current time as being "Pacific Time" and continue to note it as such until the tape delay is started. In some instances, when NBC Special Reports occur during the ''Today'' timeslot, the show's anchors will assume hosting responsibilities.

For the most part, ''Today'' is aired live in the Eastern Time Zone in most markets while taped delayed in the remaining time zones.

Studio

The ''Today'' program first originated from the RCA Exhibition Hall on 49th Street in a space now occupied by the Christie's auction house, just down the block from the current studio. The first set placed a functional newsroom in the studio, which Garroway called "the nerve center of the world." The barrier between backstage and on-stage was virtually nonexistent. Garroway and the on-air staff often walked through the newsroom set. Glimpses of camera crew and technicians were a frequent occurrence, as were off-screen voices conversing with Garroway. Gradually, machines and personnel were placed behind the scenes to assemble the news and weather reports, and the newsroom was gone by 1955. In 1958, the show moved across the street to Studio 3K in the RCA Building, where it remained through the early 1960s.

On July 9, 1962, the show returned to a streetside studio in the space then occupied by the Florida Showcase. On September 13, 1965, ''Today'' moved back to the RCA Building. The network's news programming went to all-color broadcasts at that time, and NBC could not justify allocating four (then-expensive) color cameras to the Florida Showcase studio.

For the next twenty years, the show occupied a series of studios on the third, sixth, and eighth floors of NBC's headquarters; most notably Studio 3K in the 1970s, Studio 8G (adjacent to Studio 8H, home to ''Saturday Night Live'') in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and finally Studio 3B from 1983 to 1994. ''Today'' moved to the current streetside studio on June 13, 1994, providing a link to the show's 1950s origins.

Since the premiere of the 1990s set, the morning shows of each of the major broadcast and cable-news networks has moved streetside—including two of ''Today's'' Rockefeller Center neighbors, Fox News' ''Fox & Friends'' (at Avenue of the Americas) and CNN's ''American Morning''. (In summer 2005, CNN reversed the trend, abandoning its street-level studio and moving upstairs in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle.) ABC's ''Good Morning America'' broadcasts from Times Square Studios. In 2006, Studio 1A underwent a major renovation to prepare for 1080i high-definition broadcasting. After the departure of Katie Couric and while a new set was readied (summer of 2006), the program was broadcast from a temporary outdoor studio in Rockefeller Plaza, the same set NBC used at the Olympic Games since 2004 (Athens (2004), in Torino, Italy, (2006), and would be re-used for Beijing (2008). However, it would not be used during in Vancouver (2010), as their studio was the atrium at Grouse Mountain.) During the week of August 28, 2006, the show was moved to a temporary location outside of Studio 1A because MTV was converting the Outdoor Studio into their Red Carpet booth for the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. A mock set was set up in ''Dateline'''s studio, also used during inclement weather. Also, they used a temporary outdoor set at 30 Rock,and MSNBC's ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' (which joined at Studio 1A in 30 Rock on October 22, 2007).

On September 13, 2006, ''Today'' moved into its brand new set. The new studio is divided into five different parts on the lower level. It includes the interview area, the couch area, the news desk, the performance/interview/extra space area, and home base, which is where the anchors start the show. A gigantic Panasonic 103-inch plasma monitor is often used for graphic display backgrounds. A kitchen set is located upstairs from the main studio. The blue background that is seen in the opening of the show in home base moves up and down to allow a view of the outside from the home base. New graphics were introduced, which underwent only minor changes until they were updated on September 8, 2009, with the introduction of the new ''Your day is Today'' slogan.

Current on-air staff

Anchors

''Today'' anchors started out as "Communicators." Creator Pat Weaver envisioned a person whose responsibilities would go beyond the bounds of traditional sit-down news anchors. The Communicator would interview, report, moderate dialogue and generally tie the show together into a coherent whole. Garroway and his successors have all followed that model, with little variation. Today, the hosts are expected to do much the same, and on any given day will talk with correspondents, newsmakers and lifestyle experts; introduce and close each half-hour; conduct special segments (such as cooking or fashion) and go on-assignment to host the program from different locations. Although the "Communicator" nomenclature has since dropped out of favor, the job remains largely the same. The principal anchors/hosts of the show include:

Matt Lauer, anchor (1997–present)

Ann Curry, anchor (2011–present)

Natalie Morales, news anchor (2011–present), third-hour anchor (2006–present)

Al Roker, weather anchor (1996–present), third-hour anchor (2006–present)

Savannah Guthrie, third-hour anchor (2011–present)

Hoda Kotb, fourth-hour anchor (2007–present)

Kathie Lee Gifford, fourth-hour anchor (2008–present)

Willard Scott, other (1980–present)

Former on-air staff

Anchors

Dave Garroway (1952–1961)

John Chancellor (1961–1962)

Hugh Downs (1962–1971)

Barbara Walters (1966–1976)

Frank McGee (1971–1974)

Jim Hartz (1974–1976)

Tom Brokaw (1976–1982)

Jane Pauley (1976–1989)

Bryant Gumbel (1982–1997)

Deborah Norville (1990–1991)

Katie Couric (1991–2006)

Meredith Vieira (2006–2011)

News anchors

From the show's inception, the idea of providing the latest news has been critical to the function of the program. In that vein, there has always been at least one person on set whose job it is to prepare and deliver newscasts. In 1952, that person was called ''Today'''s "news editor" or (informally) "news chief." In modern parlance, the term "newsreader" or "news anchor" is preferred. Under the two-hour format, four newscasts would be delivered, once every half-hour. Now there are only three newscasts, delivered at the top of each of the first three hours. Some anchors, including Jim Fleming, Lew Wood, Floyd Kalber and John Palmer, were seasoned journalists before joining the program. Others, including Ann Curry, have used the position to increase their journalistic acumen, at times leaving the newsdesk behind to venture into the field. News anchors have included the following:

Jim Fleming, news anchor (1952–1953)

Merrill Mueller, news anchor (1953)

Frank Blair, news anchor (1953–1975)

Lew Wood, news anchor (1975–1976)

Floyd Kalber, news anchor (1976–1979)

Tony Guida, news anchor (1979)

None (1979–1981; Brokaw and Pauley read headlines during this period.)

Chris Wallace, news anchor (1982)

John Palmer, news anchor (1982–1989)

Deborah Norville, news anchor (1989)

Steven Frazier, news anchor (1990)

Faith Daniels, news anchor (1990–1992)

Margaret Larson, news anchor (1992–1994)

Matt Lauer, news anchor (1994–1997)

Ann Curry, news anchor (1997–2011)

Weather anchors

For the program's first 25 years, weather reports were delivered by the host or newsreader. Dave Garroway would draw the day's weather fronts and areas of precipitation on a big chalkboard map of the United States, based on information gathered earlier in the morning from the U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C. Subsequent hosts John Chancellor and Hugh Downs dropped the chalkboard weather map concept and instead read a prepared weather summary over a still image of a weather map. When the show went to all-color broadcasts in 1965, weather maps were prepared and projected on a screen behind Frank Blair, who would deliver the forecast immediately after his news summaries. Following Blair's retirement in 1975, Lew Wood took over the newsreader and weather reporting duties. When Floyd Kalber became news anchor in 1976, Wood continued to do the weather (in addition to doing other news, sports, and commercials) until 1978. The weather is reported every half-hour during the program's first three hours, though since Al Roker took over as weather reporter, this is not always the case as an interview by Al at the beginning of the show may air in place of the national weather forecast at least once during the show at certain times during the week, leaving only the local weather inserts by NBC stations.

With the purchase of The Weather Channel by NBC in association with two private equity groups in 2008 and the July 2009 launch of pre-''Today'' program ''Wake Up with Al'' on that network, the forecast segment is now often augmented with reports and observations by Weather Channel staff at the site of a weather event or from the Weather Channel's suburban Atlanta headquarters.

Until the hiring of Bob Ryan in 1978, however, no one on the show had practical experience or academic credentials in meteorology.

''Today'' weather reporters have included:

Bob Ryan, weather anchor (1978–1980)

Willard Scott, weather anchor (1980–1996)

Al Roker, weather anchor (1996–present)

NBC affiliate stations are given a 30 second window to insert a local forecast into the program following the national weather report; Roker's outcue for the local break is ''"That's what's going on around the country, here’s what’s happening in your neck of the woods."'' (A national summary of temperatures from Roker is shown if no local forecast is inserted in the area, international viewers and to those watching outside Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza.)

The semi-retired Scott, who gained fame through his antics that included costumes and props, still occasionally appears as Roker's fill-in, and to continue his tradition of wishing "happy birthday" to centenarians. Scott's traditional local cue is ''"Here's what's happening in your world, even as we speak."''

Regular panelists

The job of "panelist" has no set definition. Panelist duties can range from conducting interviews to reporting on a number of topics in-studio and in the field. Regular panelists on the program include the following:

Jack Lescoulie (1952–1965)

Edwin Newman (1952–1984)

Barbara Walters (1966–1974 as ''de facto'' co-anchor; officially titled "co-host" in 1974)

Judith Crist (1964–1973)

Joe Garagiola (1967–1973, 1990–1992)

Gene Shalit (1973–2010)

Jane Pauley (2010-present)

''Today'' Girls

From 1952 to 1964, a notable member of the cast was a woman, often an entertainer, the ''Today'' Girl. Usually, she would discuss fashion and lifestyle, report the weather, cover lighter-fare stories or engage in verbal jousting with Garroway. Estelle Parsons was the first to hold the job, though her title at the time was "Women's Editor". Upon her departure in 1955, the ''Today'' Girl name was adopted. The last to hold the position, Barbara Walters, discussed the job in her autobiography ''Audition: A Memoir''. She wrote that the era was before the Women's Movement, and it was believed that nobody would take a woman seriously reporting "hard news"; Walters described the position as a "tea pourer". In 1966, Walters was promoted to co-host alongside Hugh Downs, and the ''Today'' Girl position was eliminated. Those who held the position were:

Estelle Parsons (official title: "Women's Editor") (1952–1955)

Lee Meriwether (1955–1956)

Helen O'Connell (1956–1958)

Betsy Palmer (1958)

Florence Henderson (1959–1960; co-hosted ''Later Today'' in 1999–2000)

Beryl Pfizer (1960–1961)

Robbin Bain (1961)

Louise King (1962)

Pat Fontaine (1963–1964)

Maureen O'Sullivan (1964)

Barbara Walters (1964–1966)

Controversies and transitions

Gumbel-"Memogate"

In 1989, Gumbel wrote a memo to ''Today Show'' executive producer Marty Ryan which was critical of other ''Today'' personalities. This memo was leaked to the press. In the memo, Gumbel commented that Willard Scott "holds the show hostage to his assortment of whims, wishes, birthdays and bad taste...This guy is killing us and no one's even trying to rein him in". He commented that Gene Shalit's movie reviews "are often late and his interviews aren't very good."

There was enough negative backlash in regard to Gumbel's comments toward Scott that Gumbel was shown making up with Scott on ''Today''.

Exit Jane Pauley, enter Deborah Norville

By 1989, Deborah Norville replaced John Palmer at the ''Today'' newsdesk and he assumed her previous role on ''Sunrise''. She also began substituting for Tom Brokaw on ''NBC Nightly News''. Shortly after Norville's appointment as ''Today'''s news anchor, the decision was made to feature Norville as an unofficial third host. Whereas Palmer had read the news from a desk separate from where Gumbel and Pauley sat, Norville was seated alongside the program's hosts at the opening and closing of every show. Before long, gossip columns and media observers predicted that NBC would remove Jane Pauley from the program and replace her with Norville in an effort to improve the program's recently declining viewership by young women, the demographic most coveted by morning shows. During this period ''Saturday Night Live'' featured a skit titled "All About Deborah Norville" (a takeoff on the classic film ''All About Eve''), which depicted Norville as ruthlessly scheming to take Pauley's place as ''Today'' co-host.

By late 1989, it was announced that 13-year veteran Pauley would leave ''Today'' at the end of the year. NBC, as expected, announced that Norville would become co-host. An emotional Norville hugged Pauley on the air after the announcement was made, and many at NBC hoped the negative press generated by Norville's increased presence on the program would end. It did not. Prior to the announcement of Pauley's departure, much of the criticism had focused on Norville's youth and beauty, with many branding her "the other woman" and a "home wrecker," in a reference to what some felt seemed like her intent on "breaking up" the television marriage of Gumbel and Pauley.

Negative press only heightened after the announcement of Pauley's resignation, and Norville was put under a gag order by NBC brass which prevented her from defending herself from the widespread and erroneous reports that she somehow orchestrated her rise on ''Today''. In January 1990, the new anchor team of Bryant Gumbel and Deborah Norville, minus Jane Pauley, debuted with disastrous results. Ratings for the program began to plummet. Critics felt that Gumbel and Norville lacked chemistry and many loyal viewers began turning to rival ABC's ''Good Morning America'' (''GMA'').

By the end of 1990, ''Today'', the longtime dominant program, was officially the second place morning show behind ''GMA,'' and most of the blame was pinned on Norville. By the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Norville saw her role as co-host continually minimized. ''Today'' aired special editions of the program called ''America at War'', with Gumbel anchoring most of the show alone. It was not uncommon for Norville not to even make an appearance until the two hour show's second half hour. In addition, she was directed not to initiate conversation on the show and only speak when asked a question by Gumbel. Norville left the show for maternity leave in February 1991. It was announced that Katie Couric would substitute co-host during Norville's absence. Ratings for the program rose immediately following Norville's departure and Couric's arrival.

Midway though her maternity leave, Norville was interviewed by ''People''. In the story, she avoided conversation about her recent trouble on ''Today'', and instead focused on her newborn baby boy. She was photographed breastfeeding her son, a seemingly innocuous event, but NBC management was said to be greatly displeased by this, believing the photo to be in poor taste. By April 1991, in light of improved ratings on ''Today'' and NBC's displeasure at the ''People'' photograph, it was announced that Norville would not return to ''Today'' and that Katie Couric had been named the program's co-host. Norville, it was disclosed, would continue to be paid in accordance with her contract, although she would no longer appear on any NBC News programs.

Rumored Couric-Lauer feud

Beginning in 2003 there were rumors that Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were in the midst of a feud. Reports say that this was due to Katie Couric's prominence, that she was generally perceived as handling the news program, and that she was the only person who could guarantee high ratings for a morning news program.

Couric leaves, Vieira enters

On Wednesday April 5, 2006, Katie Couric announced on her fifteenth anniversary as co-host of ''Today'' that she would leave ''Today'' and NBC News at the end of May to become the new anchor and managing editor of the ''CBS Evening News''. Katie Couric's final broadcast was aired on May 31, 2006. The day's show was dedicated to Couric's fifteen years as one of the show's co-hosts, and celebrated her move to the anchor chair at CBS, where she also became a correspondent for the network's Sunday night program ''60 Minutes''. Couric said during the show, "It's been a pleasure hosting this program, and thank you for fifteen great years." A special video presentation was broadcast, recapping her best moments and news stories on Today during her fifteen years.

The day after Couric's announcement, Meredith Vieira, then a host of ABC's ''The View'' announced on that show that she would take over as Lauer's co-anchor in September. Lauer and Vieira began co-hosting together on September 13, 2006.

On June 1, 2006 (the day after Couric's departure), NBC News announced that for the summer of 2006 ''Today'' would move to a temporary outdoor studio as Studio 1A was going through renovations to prepare for high-definition. On that same day, NBC News launched a new advertisement promoting Vieira's arrival. For the summer of 2006, Couric's anchor seat was filled with various hosts, consisting of Curry, Morales and Campbell Brown (all of whom were considered candidates to replace Couric), until Vieira took over that fall.

Lauer's contract has been secured for the future years. He has signed through 2012 and has received a sizable salary increase.

In March 2010, Vieira signed a contract that would keep her with the program until at least September 2011, though reports state that she will not renew her contract when it expires at that time. Vieira announced on May 9, 2011 that she would depart as co-host in the following month, but would remain at NBC News in an as-yet undetermined role.

Vieira exits, Curry takes over

After announcing her resignation, Vieira departed the program on June 8th, 2011. Former news anchor Ann Curry replaced her, appearing alongside Matt Lauer as co-host. Correspondent Natalie Morales replaced Curry as news anchor, with Al Roker remaining as the weather anchor. Savannah Guthrie joins Morales and Roker as co-host of the third, 9am hour.

Expansion

''Early Today'' and ''Later Today''

The first brand extension was created in 1982. ''Early Today'' was conceived as a lead-in for ''Today''. It even had the same anchors, Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley. The program was conceived so local stations could carry the full hour or one of the two half-hours. After a year NBC replaced it with ''NBC News at Sunrise'', anchored by Connie Chung.

In 1999, NBC cancelled ''Sunrise'' and created two brand extensions for ''Today''. One was ''Early Today'' (not to be confused with the earlier incarnation); the program originally was produced by CNBC and focused on business and financial news before switching to general news under the same production staff as ''MSNBC First Look''; it continues to air on many NBC affiliates. Also in the of fall 1999, ''Later Today'', a talk show that was intended to air immediately following the then two-hour ''Today'', was launched with hosts Jodi Applegate, Florence Henderson and Asha Blake. Sagging ratings for that show caused its cancellation in August 2000; it was replaced two months later by the current third hour of ''Today''.

Fourth hour

On September 10, 2007, NBC expanded the show length to four hours, as announced on January 17, 2007 at its press tour sessions. The fourth hour was originally hosted by Curry, Morales, and Hoda Kotb; Kathie Lee Gifford replaced Curry and Morales on April 7, 2008. Without news segments or input from the earlier hosts, the fourth hour operates virtually as a standalone talk show, with an opening "host chat" segment reminiscent of the one popularized by Gifford and Regis Philbin on ''Live with Regis and Kathie Lee'', as well as features focusing on entertainment, fashion and other topics intended to draw in female viewers.

NBC had aired the daytime soap opera ''Passions'' from 1999 to 2007 but dropped it to make room on its schedule for the extended version of ''Today''. The fourth hour of ''Today'' competes with ABC's ''The View'' and CBS's ''The Price Is Right'' in most markets in the Central and Pacific time zones, but most Eastern time stations air it live one hour before those programs. Not all NBC affiliates carry the new hour, including Hearst-owned affiliates KCRA-TV, Sacramento, California; KSBW in Salinas, California; WBAL-TV, Baltimore, Maryland; and WYFF, Greenville, South Carolina.

Today in Two Minutes

On May 3, 2010, the show launched a new online-only feature called "Today in Two Minutes," anchored by ''Today'' News Anchor Natalie Morales. The video provides brief updates on the day's weather, news headlines and other stories, while giving a look ahead to segments appearing later in the morning on the television broadcast. It appears on the program's website each weekday morning. While it shares a name with a news segment on ''Today'' during Dave Garroway's tenure, the current "Today in Two Minutes" otherwise bears little resemblance to its 1952 forebear.

Music

''Today Show'' host Dave Garroway selected Les Brown's ''Sentimental Journey'' as the program's very first theme, used during the entire Garroway era from 1952 to 1961. In 1962, when Hugh Downs became host, Django Reinhardt's "Melodie au Crepuscule" was chosen as the new theme; it was replaced in 1963 by ''Misty'', an instrumental ballad composed by Erroll Garner and performed by Bobby Hackett and John B. Seng.

''Misty'' served as ''Today’s'' theme until 1971, when NBC News correspondent Frank McGee joined the show. Composer Ray Ellis penned an entirely new instrumental theme entitled "This is Today", a jazzy, up-tempo piece that served as the program's main theme until 1978. Because ''This is Today'' closely resembled the theme ''Day by Day'' from the musical ''Godspell'', Ellis was successfully sued for copyright infringement and ''This is Today'' was revised. The second version of ''This is Today'' incorporated the familiar NBC chime signature (G-E-C) in a bright, appropriately sunny arrangement that was used until 1981, at the close of the Tom Brokaw-Jane Pauley era. The G-E-C signature was also used throughout the program to introduce and conclude segments, usually in combination with the familiar ''Today Show'' sunburst.

By 1982, ''Today'' had a new anchor, Bryant Gumbel, and a new version of Ellis' ''This is Today'' theme, a looser, more relaxed arrangement that continued to feature the NBC chimes in its melody. A shorter arrangement of ''This is Today'' was used for the show open (featuring a rotating globe and ''Today'' sunburst) from 1983 to 1985. The main theme was used until 1985, and due to its popularity with viewers was resurrected as the show's secondary theme in January 1993. The 1982 theme now serves as the program's official "anniversary" music, used to open and close retrospective segments as ''Today'' approaches its 60th anniversary.

1985 saw the end of the synthesizer era at NBC as composer John Williams wrote a series of themes for all NBC News programs, with a cut entitled ''The Mission'' serving as the principal theme for ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw''. Williams also composed two themes for ''Today'': an opening fanfare for the program that was derived from the opening of ''The Mission''; and a two-minute closing theme for the show entitled ''Scherzo for Today'', a dramatic arrangement that made heavy use of strings and flutes. In the late 1980s, ''Scherzo'' was played in its entirety multiple times daily during the weather scrolls that ran during local commercial breaks; however, most NBC affiliates preempted these segments with advertising. The new ''Today'' themes—used in tandem with the show's new opening sequence featuring the Statue of Liberty and a new living room studio set—gave the program a distinctly modern look and sound beginning in September 1985. A series of Williams-penned bumpers featuring the ''Mission'' signature were also used to open and close segments.

''Scherzo for Today'' was used as the program's closing theme until 1990, and the ''Mission'' bumpers were used until 1993. (One of them could be heard as a station break lead-in on NBC's ''Meet The Press'' until 2004.) Meanwhile, Williams' opening fanfare has opened the program ever since its 1985 introduction, with two brief interruptions; new opening themes were briefly introduced and quickly discarded in the summer of 1994 (to mark the debut of Studio 1A) and in 2004. The fanfare was iconically accompanied by Fred Facey announcing "From NBC News, this is ''Today''... with (anchor) and (anchor)." Although Facey died in April 2003, His introduction of the Couric/Lauer team was used for the duration of Couric's era (except for special editions requiring special introductions). ''Weekend Today'' announcer Les Marshak became the new voice of the weekday program on September 13, 2006.

Currently, a lighter theme employing the NBC chimes is used to open the show's 7:30 through 9:30 half-hour segments, and also used as a closing theme.

''Weekend Today''

The Sunday edition of ''Today'' debuted on September 20, 1987. Five years later on August 1, 1992, the Saturday edition debuted expanding the ''Today'' schedule to seven days a week. The Sunday broadcast airs for one hour (originally 90 minutes, until the expansion of ''Meet the Press'' to a full hour in 1992), and the Saturday broadcast airs for two hours.

The weekend broadcasts continue the ''Today'' tradition of covering breaking news, interviewing newsmakers, reporting on a variety of popular-culture and human-interest stories, covering health and finance issues and presenting the latest weather reports. NBC feeds the Saturday edition from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and the Sunday edition from 8:00 a.m to 9:00 a.m. (both Eastern Time), although many of the network's affiliates air local newscasts in those time slots and carry the network broadcast later in the morning. NBC's New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles owned and operated stations air ''Weekend Today'' simultaneously (but not live) at 9:00 a.m ET, 8:00 a.m. CT and 6:00 am PT.

Weekend editions are tailored to the priorities and interests of weekend viewers—offering special series such as "''Saturday Today'' on the Plaza", featuring live performances by the biggest names in music and Broadway outside the studio throughout the summer.

Current on-air staff

Anchors

Lester Holt, weekend anchor (2003–present)

Amy Robach, Saturday weekend anchor (2007–present)

Jenna Wolfe, Sunday weekend anchor (2007–present)

Bill Karins, Saturday weekend weather anchor (2009–present)

Janice Huff, Sunday weekend weather anchor (1995–present)

Former on-air staff

Anchors

''Sunday Today'' anchors included:

Boyd Matson, weekend anchor (1987–1988)

Maria Shriver, weekend anchor (1987–1990)

Garrick Utley, news anchor (1987–1988) weekend anchor (1988–1992)

Al Roker, weekend anchor (1989–1992)

Katie Couric, weekend anchor (1990–1991)

Mary Alice Williams, weekend anchor (1991–1992)

''Weekend Today'' anchors included:

Scott Simon, weekend anchor (1992–1993)

Jackie Nespral, weekend anchor (1992–1995)

Mike Schneider, weekend anchor (1993–1995)

Giselle Fernandez, weekend anchor (1995–1996)

Jack Ford, weekend anchor (1995–1999)

Carol Martin, weekend anchor (1996)

Jodi Applegate, weekend anchor (1996–1999)

Soledad O'Brien, weekend anchor (1999–2003)

David Bloom, weekend anchor (1999–2003)

Campbell Brown, weekend anchor (2003–2007)

Special editions

Ratings

Week of April 25, 2011/ Day of April 29, 2011 (Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton)

''Today'': 6,424,000/ 9,628,000 viewers

''Good Morning America'': 5,735,000/ 8,650,000 viewers

''The Early Show'': 2,650,000/ unknown viewers

This week was Today's best week since August 11, 2008, which was week of the Beijing Olympics. Also, April 29, was the best single day rating since November 8, 2000, which was the day after the 2000 presidential election.

Week of April 11, 2011

''Today'': 5,662,000 viewers

''Good Morning America'': 4,812,000 viewers

''The Early Show'': 2,659,000 viewers

This week was Today's 800th week at the number one spot. At ABC, Good Morning America compared to last year has closed the gap by 35%, the smallest gap since 2006-2007. However NBC is calling this week the widest margin in six weeks.

Week of January 4, 2009: ''Today'' (8am) averaged 5,998,000 millon viewers, ''Today II'' (9:00am) averaged 4,447,000 total viewers and a 1.4 rating in the A25-54 demo. It was the hour's best ratings since the week of August 11, 2008. ''Today III'' (10:00am) averaged 2,412,000 total viewers and a .8 rating in the demo. It was the most total viewers for the program since the week of December 31, 2007.

Week of October 12, 2008

''Today'': 4,910,000 viewers

''Good Morning America'': 4,250,000 viewers

''The Early Show'': 2,660,000 viewers

Only the first two hours of ''Today'' are counted above. For the sake of Nielsen ratings (but not on-air), NBC refers to the third and fourth hours as ''Today II'' and ''Today III'', respectively. For the week above, ''Today II'' drew 2.9 million viewers and ''Today III''' delivered 1.7 million.

Week of June 30, 2008

''Today'': 4,900,000 viewers

''Good Morning America'': 3,800,000 viewers

''The Early Show'': 2,400,000 viewers

Week of September 11, 2006

''Today:'' 6,320,000 viewers

''Good Morning America'': 4,730,000

''The Early Show'': 2,800,000

International broadcasts

NBC News programming is shown daily on the 24 hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East. This includes a live broadcast of ''Today''.

In Australia, ''NBC Today'' (titled as such locally to avoid confusion with the local Nine Network program of the same name) airs from 4am Tuesday to Saturday on the Seven Network. Sunday's edition is broadcast at 5:00am on Mondays, following ''Meet The Press''. The program is condensed into a 90 minute broadcast (except for Saturday mornings where the full 2-hour edition is shown), with no local news inserted. However, a news ticker appears at the bottom of the screen, containing National headlines, as well as upcoming information for the Sunrise breakfast show. A national weather map of Australia is inserted during cut-aways to local affiliates for weather. ''Today'' is pre-empted by paid programming on regional Seven affiliates Prime7 and GWN7. The top three U.S. breakfast programs air simultaneously on Australian television with the ''CBS Early Show'' airing on Network Ten and ''Good Morning America'' on the Nine Network.

''Today'' is also shown in the Philippines on Talk TV with the weekday editions which airs at 7.00 pm local time on Mondays to Fridays. Weekend Today airs Saturdays at 7:00pm and Sundays at 8:00 pm local time.

In the United Kingdom and across Europe, ''Today'' originally aired on Sky News between 1989 and 1993, and from 1993 and 1998 on NBC Europe. The show was initially aired live in the afternoons until 1995, when it was delayed until the next morning.

In Australia, ''NBC Today'' is shown on 7mate at 9am as a two-hour condensed edition.

See also

"Where in the World is Matt Lauer?"

Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda

References

External links

''“Today”'' official site

''“The Today Show viewers home page and forum”'' The Today Show viewers home page and forum

''Today'' at the Internet Movie Database

''Weekend Today'' official site

“Today” Music History page

''“Today”'' show book with quotes from show staff & backstage personnel on parenting

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Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	Track and field
nickname	Track
team	Yes
mgender	Yes
category	sports/running
olympic	Yes }}

Track and field (also known as track and field sports, track and field athletics, or commonly just track) is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area. The throwing and jumping events generally take place within the central enclosed area.

Track and field is one of the sports which (along with road running, cross-country running and race walking) makes up the umbrella sport of athletics. It is under the banner of athletics that the two most prestigious international track and field competitions are held: the athletics competition at the Olympic Games and the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The International Association of Athletics Federations is the international governing body for track and field.

Track and field events are generally individual sports with athletes challenging each other to decide a single victor. The racing events are won by the athlete with the fastest time, while the jumping and throwing events are won by the athlete who has achieved the greatest distance or height in the contest. The running events are categorised as sprints, middle and long-distance events, relays, and hurdling. Regular jumping events include long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault, while the most common throwing events are shot put, javelin, discus and hammer. There are also "combined events", such as heptathlon and decathlon, in which athletes compete in a number of the above events.

Records are kept of the best performances in specific events, at world and national levels, right down to a personal level. However, if athletes are deemed to have violated the event's rules or regulations, they are disqualified from the competition and their marks are erased. The athletes wear small clothes that make running easier; men wear shorts and sleeveless shirts while women wear swim-like suits.

History

The sport of track and field has its roots in human prehistory. Track and field-style events are among the oldest of all sporting competitions, as running, jumping and throwing are natural and universal forms of human physical expression. The first recorded examples of organized track and field 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. The scope of the Games expanded in later years to include further running competitions, but the introduction of the Ancient Olympic pentathlon marked a step towards track and field as it is recognised today – it comprised a five-event competition of the long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, the stadion foot race, and wrestling.

Track and field events were also present at the Panhellenic Games in Greece around this period, and they spread to Rome in Italy around 200 BC. After the period of Classical antiquity (in which the sport was largely Greco-Roman influenced) new track and field events began developing in parts of Northern Europe in the Middle Ages. The stone put and weight throw competitions popular among Celtic societies in Ireland and Scotland were precursors to the modern shot put and hammer throw events. One of the last track and field events to develop was the pole vault, which stemmed from competitions such as the Fierljeppen contests in the Northern European Lowlands in the 18th century.

Discrete modern track and field competitions, separate from general sporting festivals, were first recorded in the late 19th century. These were typically organised by educational institutions, military organisations and sports clubs as competitions between rival establishments. Competitive hurdling first came into being around this point, with the advent of the steeplechase in England around 1850. The Amateur Athletic Association was established in England in 1880 as the first national body for the sport of athletics and, under this grouping, track and field became the focus of the annual AAA Championships. The United States also began holding an annual national competition – the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships – first held in 1876 by the New York Athletic Club. Following the establishment of general sports governing bodies for the United States (the Amateur Athletic Union in 1888) and France (the Union des sociétés françaises de sports athlétiques in 1889), track and field events began to be promoted and codified.

The establishment of the modern Olympic Games at the end of the 19th century marked a new high for track and field. The Olympic athletics programme, 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 Olympic athletics programme greatly expanded over the next decades, and track and field contests remained among the Games' most prominent. The Olympics was the elite competition for track and field, and only amateur sportsmen could compete. Track and field would continue to be a largely amateur sport, as this rule was strictly enforced: Jim Thorpe was stripped of his track and field medals from the 1912 Olympics after it was revealed that he had played baseball professionally.

That same year, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) was established, becoming the international governing body for track and field, and it enshrined amateurism as one of its founding principles for the sport. The National Collegiate Athletic Association held their first Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in 1921, making it one of the most prestigious competitions for students, and this was soon followed by the introduction of track and field at the inaugural World Student Games in 1923. The first continental track and field competition was the 1919 South American Championships, which was followed by the European Athletics Championships in 1934. Up until the early 1920s, track and field had been almost exclusively a male-only pursuit. The women's sports movement led to the introduction of five track and field events for women in the athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics and more women's events were gradually introduced as years progressed (although it was only towards the end of the century that the men's and women's programmes approached parity of events). Furthermore, major track and field competitions for disabled athletes were first introduced at the 1960 Summer Paralympics.

With the rise of numerous regional championships, as well as the growth in Olympic-style multi-sport events (such as the Commonwealth Games and the Pan-American Games), competitions between international track and field athletes became widespread. From the 1960s onwards, the sport gained more exposure and commercial appeal through television coverage and the increasing wealth of nations. After over half a century of amateurism, the amateur status of the sport began to be displaced by growing professionalism in the late 1970s. As a result, the Amateur Athletic Union was dissolved in the United States and it was replaced with a non-amateur body solely focused on the sport of athletics: The Athletics Congress (later USA Track and Field). The IAAF soon followed suit in 1982, abandoning amateurism, and later removing all references to it from its name by rebranding itself as the International Association of Athletics Federations. The following year saw the establishment of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics – the first ever global competition for just athletics which became one of track and field's most prestigious competitions along with the Olympics.

The profile of the sport reached a new high in the 1980s, with a number of athletes becoming household names (such as Carl Lewis, Sergey Bubka, Sebastian Coe, Zola Budd and Florence Griffith-Joyner). Many world records were broken in this period, and the added political element between competitors of the United States, East Germany, and the Soviet Union, in reaction to the Cold War, only served to stoke the sport's popularity. The increase in the commercial capacity of track and field was also met with developments in the application of sports science, and there were many changes to coaching methods, athlete's diet regimes, training facilities and sports equipment. This was also accompanied by an increase in the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and prominent cases, such as those of Olympic gold medallists Ben Johnson and Marion Jones, damaged the public image and marketability of the sport.

From the 1990s onwards, track and field became increasingly more professional and international, as the IAAF gained over two hundred member nations. The IAAF World Championships in Athletics became a fully professional competition with the introduction of prize money in 1997, and in 1998 the IAAF Golden League — an annual series of major track and field meetings in Europe — provided a higher level of economic incentive in the form of a US$1 million jackpot. 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 – the first ever worldwide annual series of track and field meetings.

Events

Track and field events are divided into three broad categories: track events, field events, and combined events. The majority of athletes tend to specialise in just one event (or event type) with the aim of perfecting their performances, although the aim of combined events athletes is to become proficient in a number of disciplines. Track events involve running on a track over a specified distances and—in the case of the hurdling and steeplechase events—obstacles may be placed on the track. There are also relay races in which teams of athletes run and pass on a baton to their team member at the end of a certain distance.

There are two types of field events: jumps, and throws. In jumping competitions, athletes are judged on either the length or height of their jumps. The performances of jumping events for distance are measured from a board or marker, and any athlete overstepping this mark is judged to have fouled. In the jumps for height, an athlete must clear his or her body over a crossbar without knocking the bar off the supporting standards. The majority of jumping events are unaided, although athletes propel themselves vertically with purpose-built sticks in the pole vault.

The throwing events involve hurling an implement (such as a heavy weight, javelin or discus) from a set point, with athletes being judged on the distance that the object is thrown. Combined events involve the same group of athletes contesting a number of different track and field events. Points are given for their performance in each event and the athlete with the greatest points total at the end of all events is the winner.

Running

Sprints

Races over short distances, or sprints, are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event – the stadion race, which was literally a race from one end of the stadium to the other. Sprinting events are focused around athletes reaching and sustaining their quickest possible running speed. There are three sprinting events which are currently held at the Olympics and outdoor World Championships: the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 400 metres. These events have their roots in races of imperial measurements which were later altered to metric: the 100 m evolved from the 100 yard dash, the 200 m distances came from the furlong (or 1/8 of a mile), and the 400 m was the successor to the 440 yard dash or quarter-mile race.

At the professional level, sprinters begin the race by assuming a crouching position in the starting blocks before leaning forward and gradually moving into an upright position as the race progresses and momentum is gained. Athletes remain in the same lane on the running track throughout all sprinting events, with the sole exception of the 400 m indoors. Races up to 100 m are largely focused upon acceleration to an athlete's maximum speed. Human physiology dictates that a runner's near-top speed cannot be maintained for more than thirty seconds or so as lactic acid builds up and leg muscles begin to be deprived of oxygen.

The 60 metres is a common indoor event and it is an indoor world championship event. Other less-common events include the 50 metres, 55 metres, 300 metres and 500 metres which are used in some high school and collegiate competitions in the United States. The 150 metres, though rarely competed, has a star-studded history: Pietro Mennea set a world best in 1983, Olympic champions Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey went head-to-head over the distance in 1997, and Usain Bolt improved Mennea's record in 2009.

Middle distance

The most common middle distance track events are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle distance event. The 880 yard run, or half mile, was the forebear to the 800 m distance and it has its roots in competitions in the United Kingdom in the 1830s. The 1500 m came about as a result of running three laps of a 500 m track, which was commonplace in continental Europe in the 20th century.

Runners start the race from a standing position along a curved starting line and after hearing the starter's pistol they head towards the inner-most track to follow the quickest route to the finish. In 800 m races athletes begin at a staggered starting point before the turn in the track and they must remain in their lanes for the first 100 m of the race. This rule was introduced in order to reduce the amount of physical jostling between runners in the early stages of the race. Physiologically, these middle distance events demand that athletes have good aerobic and anaerobic energy producing systems, and also that they have strong speed endurance.

The 1500 m and mile run events have historically been some of the most prestigious track and field events. Swedish rivals Gunder Hägg and Arne Andersson broke each other's 1500 m and mile world records on a number of occasions in the 1940s. The prominence of the distances were maintained by Roger Bannister, who (in 1954) was the first to run the long-elusive four-minute mile, and Jim Ryun's exploits served to popularise interval training. Races between British rivals Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram characterised middle distance running in 1980s. From the 1990s onwards, North Africans such as Noureddine Morceli of Algeria and Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco came to dominate the 1500 and mile events.

Beyond the short distances of sprinting events, factors such as an athlete's reactions and top speed becomes less important, while qualities such as pace, race tactics and endurance become more so.

Long distance

There are three common long distance running events in track and field competitions: 3000 metres, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. The latter two races are both Olympic and World Championship events outdoors, while the 3000 m is held at the IAAF World Indoor Championships. The 5000 m and 10,000 m events have their historical roots in the 3-mile and 6-mile races. The 3000 m was historically used as a women's long distance event, entering the World Championship programme in 1983 and Olympic programme in 1984, but this was abandoned in favour of a women's 5000 m event in 1995.

In terms of competition rules and physical demands, long distance track races have much in common with middle distance races, except that pacing, stamina, and race tactics become much greater factors in performances. However, a number of athletes have achieved success in both middle and long distance events, including Saïd Aouita who set world records from 1500 m to 5000 m. The use of pace-setters in long distance events is very common at the elite level, although they are not present at championship level competitions as all qualified competitors want to win.

The long distance track events gained popularity in the 1920s by the achievements of the "Flying Finns", such as multiple Olympic champion Paavo Nurmi. The successes of Emil Zátopek in the 1950s promoted intense interval training methods, but Ron Clarke's world record-breaking feats established the importance of natural training and even-paced running. The 1990s saw the rise of North and East African runners in long distance events. Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, in particular, have since remained dominant in these events.

Relays

Relay races are the only track and field event in which a team of runners directly compete against other teams. Typically, a team is made up of four runners of the same sex. Each runner completes their specified distance (referred to as a leg) before handing over a baton to a team mate, who then begins their leg upon receiving the baton. There is usually a designated area in which athletes must exchange the baton. Teams may be disqualified if they fail to complete the change within the area, or if the baton is dropped during the race. A team may also be disqualified if its runners are deemed to have wilfully impeded other competitors.

Relay races emerged in the United States in the 1880s as a variation on charity races between firemen, who would hand a red pennant on to team mates every 300 yards. There are two very common relay events: the 4×100 metres relay and the 4×400 metres relay. Both events entered the Olympic programme at the 1912 Summer Games after a one-off men's medley relay featured in 1908 Olympics. The 4×100 m event is run strictly within the same lane on the track, meaning that the team collectively runs one complete circuit of the track. Teams in a 4×400 m event remain in their own lane until the runner of the second leg passes the first bend, at which point runners can leave their lanes and head towards the inner-most part of the circuit. For the second and third baton change overs, team mates must align themselves in respect of their team position – leading teams take the inner lanes while team mates of the slower teams must await the baton on outer lanes.

The IAAF keeps world records for five different types of track relays. As with 4×100 m and 4×400 m events, all races comprise teams of four athletes running the same distances, with the less commonly contested distances being the 4×200 m, 4×800 m and 4×1500 m relays. Other events include the distance medley relay (comprising legs of 1200 m, 400 m, 800 m, and 1600 m) which is frequently held in the United States, and a sprint relay – known as the Swedish medley relay – which is popular in Scandinavia and is also featured on the World Youth Championships in Athletics programme. Relay events have significant participation in the United States, where a number of large meetings (or relay carnivals) are focused almost exclusively on relay events.

Hurdling

Races with hurdles as obstacles were first popularised in the 19th century in England. The first known event, held in 1830, was a variation of the 100-yard dash which included heavy wooden barriers as obstacles. A competition between the Oxford and Cambridge Athletic Clubs in 1864 refined this; holding a 120-yard race (109.72 m) which had ten hurdles of 3-foot and 6 inches (1.06 m) in height (each placed 10 yards (9.14 m) apart), with the first and final hurdles 15 yards from the start and finish, respectively. French organisers adapted the race into metric (adding 28 cm) and the basics of this race, the men's 110 metres hurdles, has remained largely unchanged. The origin of the 400 metres hurdles also lies in Oxford, where (around 1860) a competition was held over 440 yards and twelve 1.06 m high wooden barriers were placed along the course. The modern regulations stem from the 1900 Summer Olympics: the distance was fixed to 400 m while ten 3-foot (91.44 cm) hurdles were placed 35 m apart on the track, with the first and final hurdles being 45 m and 40 m away from the start and finish, respectively. Women's hurdles are slightly lower at 84 cm for the 100 m event and 76 cm (2 ft 6in) for the 400 m event.

By far the most common events are the 100 metres hurdles for women, 110 m hurdles for men and 400 m hurdles for both sexes. The men's 110 m has been featured at every modern Summer Olympics while the men's 400 m was introduced in the second edition of the Games. Women's initially competed in the 80 metres hurdles event, which entered the Olympic programme in 1932. This was extended to the 100 m hurdles at the 1972 Olympics, but it was not until 1984 that a women's 400 m hurdles event took place at the Olympics (having been introduced at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics the previous year).

Outside of the hurdles events, the steeplechase race is the other track and field event which includes obstacles. Just as the hurdling events, the steeplechase finds its origin in student competition in Oxford, England. However, this event was born as a human variation on the original steeplechase competition found in horse racing. A steeplechase event was held on a track for the 1879 English championships and the 1900 Summer Olympics featured men's 2500 m and 4000 m steeplechase races. The event was held over various distances until the 1920 Summer Olympics marked the rise of the 3000 metres steeplechase as the standard event. The IAAF set the standards of the event in 1954, and the event is held on a 400 m circuit which includes a water jump on each lap. Despite the long history of men's steeplechase in track and field, the women's steeplechase only gained World Championship status in 2005, with its first Olympic appearance coming in 2008.

Jumping

Long jump

The long jump is one of the oldest track and field events, having its roots as one of the events within the ancient Greek pentathlon contest. The athletes would take a short run up and jump into an area of dug up earth, with the winner being the one who jumped furthest. Small weights (Halteres) were held in each hand during the jump then swung back and dropped near the end in order to gain extra momentum and distance. The modern long jump, standardised in England and the United States around 1860, bears resemblance to the ancient event although no weights are used. Athletes sprint along a length of track which leads up to a jumping board and a sandpit. The athletes must jump before a marked line and their achieved distance is measured from the nearest point of sand which was disturbed by the athlete's body.

The athletics competition at the first Olympics featured a men's long jump competition and a women's competition was introduced at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Professional long jumpers typically have strong acceleration and sprinting abilities. However, athletes must also have a consistent stride to allow them to take off near the board while still maintaining their maximum speed. In addition to the traditional long jump, a standing long jump contest exists in which athletes must leap from a static position without the aid of a run up. A men's version of this event featured on the Olympic programme from 1900 to 1912.

Triple jump

Similar to the long jump, the triple jump takes place on a track heading towards a sandpit. Originally, athletes would hop on the same leg twice before jumping into the pit, but this was changed to the current "hop, step and jump" pattern from 1900 onwards. There is some dispute over whether the triple jump was contested in ancient Greece: while some historians claim that a contest of three jumps occurred at Ancient Games, others such as Stephen G. Miller believe this to be incorrect, suggesting that the belief stems from a mythologised account of Phayllus of Croton having jumped 55 ancient feet (around 16.3 m). The Book of Leinster, a 12th century Irish manuscript, records the existence of ''geal-ruith'' (triple jump) contests at the ancient Tailteann Games.

The men's triple jump competition has been ever-present at the modern Olympics, but it was not until 1993 that a women's version gained World Championship status and went on to have its first Olympic appearance three years later. A men's standing triple jump event featured at the 1900 and 1904 Olympics but such competitions have since become very uncommon, although it is still used as a non-competitive exercise drill.

High jump

The first recorded instances of high jumping competitions were in Scotland in the 19th century. Further competitions were organised in 1840 in England and in 1865 the basic rules of the modern event were standardised there. Athletes have a short run up and then take off from one foot to jump over a horizontal bar and fall back onto a cushioned landing area. The men's high jump was included in the 1896 Olympics and a women's competition soon followed in 1928.

Jumping technique has played a significant part in the history of the event. High jumpers typically cleared the bar feet first in the late 19th century, using either the Scissors, Eastern cut-off or Western roll technique. The straddle technique became prominent in the mid-20th century, but Dick Fosbury overturned tradition by pioneering a backwards and head-first technique in the late 1960s – the Fosbury Flop – which won him the gold at the 1968 Olympics. This technique has become the overwhelming standard for the sport from the 1980s onwards. The standing high jump was contested at the Olympics from 1900 to 1912, but is now relatively uncommon outside of its use as an exercise drill.

Pole vault

In terms of sport, the use of poles for vaulting distances was recorded in Fierljeppen contests in the Frisian area of Europe, and vaulting for height was seen at gymnastics competitions in Germany in the 1770s. One of the earliest recorded pole vault competitions was in Cumbria, England in 1843. The basic rules and technique of the event originated in the United States. The rules required that athletes do not move their hands along the pole and athletes began clearing the bar with their feet first and twisting so that the stomach faces the bar. Bamboo poles were introduced in the 20th century and a metal box in the runway for planting the pole became standard. Landing matresses were introduced in the mid-20th century to protect the athletes who were clearing increasingly greater heights.

The modern event sees athletes run down a strip of track, plant the pole in the metal box, and vault over the horizontal bar before letting go of the pole and falling backwards onto the landing matress. While earlier versions used wooden, metal or bamboo, modern poles are generally made from artificial materials such as fibreglass or carbon fibre. The pole vault has been an Olympic event since 1896 for men, but it was over 100 years later that the first women's world championship competition was held at the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships. The first women's Olympic pole vaulting competition occurred in 2000.

Throwing

Shot put

The genesis of the shot put can be traced to pre-historic competitions with rocks: in the middle ages the stone put was known in Scotland and the steinstossen was recorded in Switzerland. In the 17th century, cannonball throwing competitions within the English military provided a precursor to the modern sport. The modern rules were first laid out in 1860 and legal throws had to be taken within a square throwing area of seven feet (2.13 m) on each side. This was amended to a circle area with a seven foot diameter in 1906 and the weight of the shot was standardised to 16 pounds (7.26 kg). Throwing technique was also refined over this period, with bent arm throws being banned as they were deemed too dangerous and the side-step and throw technique arising in the United States in 1876. Shot Putters are generally the largest and most explosive athletes on a team.

The shot put has been an Olympic sport for men since 1896 and a women's competition using a 4 kg (8.82 lb) shot was added in 1948. Further throwing techniques have arisen since the post-war era: in the 1950s Parry O'Brien popularised the 180 degree turn and throw technique commonly known as the "glide," breaking the world record 16 times along the way, while Aleksandr Baryshnikov and Brian Oldfield introduced the "spin" or rotational technique in 1976.

Discus throw

As one of the events within the ancient pentathlon, the history of the discus throw dates back to 708 BC. In ancient times a heavy circular disc was thrown from a set standing position on a small pedestal, and it was this style that was revived for the 1896 Olympics. This continued until the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, which featured both the ancient style and the increasingly popular modern style of turning and throwing. By the 1912 Olympics, the ancient standing throw style had fallen into disuse and contests starting within a 2.5 m squared throwing area became the standard. The discus implement was standardised to 2 kg (4.4 pounds) in weight and 22 cm (8 inches) in diameter in 1907. The women's discus was among the first women's events on the Olympic programme, being introduced in 1928.

Javelin throw

As an implement of war and hunting, javelin throwing began in prehistoric times. Along with the discus, the javelin was the second throwing event in the ancient Olympic pentathlon. Records from 708 BC show two javelin competition types co-existing: throwing at a target and throwing the javelin for distance. It was the latter type from which the modern event was derived. In ancient competitions, athletes would wrap an ''ankyle'' (thin leather strip) around the javelin which acted as a sling to gain extra distance. The javelin throw gained much popularity in Scandinavia in the late 18th century and athletes from the region continue to be among the most dominant throwers in men's competitions. The modern event features a short run up on a track and then the thrower releases the javelin before the foul line.

The first Olympic men's javelin throw contest was held in 1908 and a women's competition was introduced in 1932. The first javelins were made of various types of wood, but in the 1950s, former athlete Bud Held introduced a hollow javelin, then a metal javelin, both of which increased throwers performances. Another former athlete, Miklós Németh invented the rough-tailed javelin and throws reached in excess of 100 m – edging towards the limits of stadia. The distances and the increasing number of horizontal landings led the IAAF to redesign the men's javelin to reduce distance and increase the implement's downward pitching moment to allow for easier measurement. Rough-tailed designs were banned in 1991 and all marks achieved with such javelins were removed from the record books. The women's javelin underwent a similar redesign in 1999. The current javelin specifications are 2.6 to 2.7 m in length and 800 grams in weight for men, and between 2.2 to 2.3 m and 600 g for women.

Hammer throw

The earliest recorded precursors to the modern hammer throw stem from the Tailteann Games around 1800 BC, which featured events such as throwing either a weight attached to a rope, a large rock on a wooden handle, or even a chariot wheel on a wooden axle. Other ancient competitions included throwing a cast iron ball attached to a wooden handle – the root of the term "hammer throw" due to their resemblance to the tools. In 16th century England, contests involving the throwing of actual blacksmith's Sledgehammers were recorded. The hammer implement was standardised in 1887 and the competitions began to resemble the modern event. The weight of the metal ball was set at 16 pounds (7.26 kg) while the attached wire had to measure between 1.175 m and 1.215 m.

The men's hammer throw became an Olympic event in 1900 but the women's event – using a 4 kg (8.82 lb) weight – was not widely competed until much later, finally featuring on the women's Olympic programme a century later. The distance's thrown by male athletes became greater from the 1950s onwards as a result of improved equipment using the denser metals, a switch to concrete throwing areas, and more advanced training techniques. Professional hammer throwers as historically large, strong, sturdy athletes. However, qualities such as refined technique, speed and flexibility have become increasingly important in the modern era as the legal throwing area has been reduced from 90 to 34.92 degrees and throwing technique involves three to four controlled rotations.

Combined events

Combined (or multi-discipline) events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each events which goes towards a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined events are the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon. Due to stadium limitations, indoor combined events competition have a reduced number of events, resulting in the men's heptathlon and the women's pentathlon. Athletes are allocated points based on an international-standard points scoring system, such as the decathlon scoring table.

The Ancient Olympic pentathlon (comprising long jump, javelin, discus, the ''stadion'' race and wrestling) was a precursor to the track and field combined events and this ancient event was restored at the 1906 Summer Olympics (Intercalated Games). A men's decathlon was held at the 1904 Summer Olympics, albeit contested between five American and two British athletes.

Stadia

Outdoor

The term track and field is intertwined with the stadiums which first hosted track and field competitions. The two basic features of a track and field stadium are the outer oval-shaped running track and an area of turf within this track – the field. In earlier competitions the lengths of the tracks varied: the Panathinaiko Stadium measured 333.33 metres at the 1896 Summer Olympics, while at the 1904 Olympics the distance was a third of a mile (536.45 m) at Francis Field. As the sport developed, the IAAF standardised the length to 400 m and stated that the tracks must be split into six to eight running lanes. Precise widths for the lanes were established, as were regulations regarding the curvature of the track. Tracks made of flattened cinders were popular in the early 20th century but synthetic tracks became standard in the late 1960s. 3M's Tartan track (an all-weather running track of polyurethane) gained popularity after its use at the 1968 US Olympic Trials and the 1968 Summer Olympics and it began the process in which synthetic tracks became the standard for the sport. Many track and field stadiums are multi-purpose stadiums, with the running track surrounding a field which is built for other sports such as the various types of football.

The field of the stadium combines a number of elements for use in the jumping and throwing events. The long jump and triple jump areas comprise a straight, narrow 40-metre running track with a sandpit at one or both ends. Jumps are measured from a take off board – typically a small strip of wood with a plasticine marker attached – which is used to ensure athletes jump from behind the measurement line. The pole vault area is also a 40-metre running track and it has an indentation in the ground (the box) in which poles are planted. Athletes then propel themselves over a crossbar before falling onto a cushioned area of landing mats. The high jump is a stripped down version of this, with an open area of track or field leading up to a crossbar with a square area of landing mats behind it.

The four throwing events generally all begin on one side of the stadium. The javelin throw typically takes place on a piece of track that is central and parallel to the straights of the main running track. The javelin throwing area is a sector shape frequently across the Pitch (sports field) in the middle of the stadium, ensuring that the javelin has a minimal chance of causing damage or injury. The discus throw and hammer throw contests begin in a tall metal cage which is usually situated in one of the corners of the field. The cage reduces the danger of implements being thrown out of the field of play and throws will travel diagonally across the field in the centre of the stadium. The shot put features a circular throwing area with a toe board at one end. The throwing area is a sector. Some stadia also have a water jump area on one side of the field specifically for steeplechase races.

Indoor

Basic indoor venues may be adapted gymnasiums, which can easily accommodate high jump competitions and short track events. Full-size indoor arenas (i.e. those fully equipped to host all events for the World Indoor Championships) bear similarities with their outdoor equivalents. Typically, a central area is surrounded by a 200-metre oval track with four to eight lanes. The track may be banked at the turns to allow athletes to run around the radius more comfortably. There is also a second running track going straight across the field area, parallel to the straights of the main circuit. This track is used for the 60 metres and 60 metres hurdles events – competitions which are held almost exclusively indoors. Another common adaptation is a 160 yard track (11 laps to a mile) that fits into a common basketball court sized arena. This was quite popular when races were held at imperial distances, which gradually was phased out by different organizations in the 1970s and 1980s. Examples of this configuration include the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden, and the Sunkist Invitational formerly held in the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

All four of the common jumping events are held at indoor venues. The long and triple jump areas run alongside the central 60 m track and are mostly identical in form to their outdoor counterparts. The pole vault track and landing area are also alongside the central running track. Shot put (or weight throw) is the only throwing event held indoors due to size restrictions. The throwing area is similar to the outdoor event, but the landing sector is a rectangular section surrounded by netting or a stop barrier.

Rules

Track rules

The rules of track athletics or of track events in athletics as observed in most international athletics competitions are set by the Competition Rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The most recent complete set of rules is the 2009 rules that relate only to competitions in 2009. Key rules of track events are those regarding starting, running and finishing.

Starting

The start of a race is marked by a white line 5 cm wide. In all races that are not run in lanes the start line must be curved, so that all the athletes start the same distance from the finish. Starting blocks may be used for all races up to and including 400 m (including the first leg of the 4 x 200 m and 4 x 400 m) and may not be used for any other race. No part of the starting block may overlap the start line or extend into another lane. All races must be started by the report of the starter's gun or approved starting apparatus fired upwards after he or she has ascertained that athletes are steady and in the correct starting position. An athlete may not touch either the start line or the ground in front of it with his or her hands or feet when on his or her marks. At most international competitions the commands of the starter in his or her own language, in English or in French, shall, in races up to and including 400 m, be "On your marks" and "Set". When all athletes are "set", the gun must be fired, or an approved starting apparatus must be activated. However, if the starter is not satisfied that all is ready to proceed, the athletes may be called out of the blocks and the process started over.

False start: An athlete, after assuming a final set position, may not commence his starting motion until after receiving the report of the gun, or approved starting apparatus. If, in the judgment of the starter or recallers, he does so any earlier, it is considered a false start. It is deemed a false start if, in the judgment of the starter an athlete fails to comply with the commands "on your marks" or "set" as appropriate after a reasonable time; or an athlete after the command "on your marks" disturbs other athletes in the race through sound or otherwise. If the runner is in the "set" position and moves, then the runner is also disqualified. As of 2010, any athlete making a false start is disqualified. This rule was already in place in high school and college.

In International Elite competition, electronically tethered starting blocks sense the reaction time of the athletes. If the athlete reacts in less than 0.1 second, an alert sounds for a recall starter and the offending athlete is guilty of a false start.

Running the race

In all races run in lanes, each athlete must keep within his allocated lane from start to finish. This also applies to any portion of a race run in lanes. If an athlete leaves the track or steps on the line demarking the track, he/she should be disqualified. Also, any athlete who jostles or obstructs another athlete, in a way that impedes his progress, should be disqualified from that event. However, if an athlete is pushed or forced by another person to run outside his lane, and if no material advantage is gained, the athlete should not be disqualified.

There are races that start in lanes and then at a "break" line, the competitors merge. Examples of this are the 800 metres, 4x400 relay and the indoor 400 metres. Variations on this, with alleys made up of multiple lanes on the track, are used to start large fields of distance runners.

The finish

The finish of a race is marked by a white line 5 cm wide. The athletes must be placed in the order in which any part of their torso (as distinguished from the head, neck, arms, legs, hands or feet) reaches the vertical plane of the nearer edge of the finish line. Fully automatic timing systems (photo timing) are becoming more and more common at increasingly lower levels of track meets, improving the accuracy, while eliminating the need for eagle-eyed officials on the finish line. Fully automatic timing (FAT) is required for high level meets and any time a (sprint) record is set (though distance records can be accepted if timed by three independent stopwatches).

With the accuracy of the timing systems, ties are rare. Ties between different athletes are resolved as follows: In determining whether there has been a tie in any round for a qualifying position for the next round based on time, a judge (called the chief photo finish judge) must consider the actual time recorded by the athletes to one thousandth of a second. If the judge decides that there has been a tie, the tying athletes must be placed in the next round or, if that is not practicable, lots must be drawn to determine who must be placed in the next round. In the case of a tie for first place in any final, the referee decides whether it is practicable to arrange for the athletes so tying to compete again. If he decides it is not, the result will stand. Ties in other placings remain.

Field rules

In general, most field events allow a competitor to take their attempt individually, under theoretically the same conditions as the other competitors in the competition. Each attempt is measured to determine who achieved the longest distance.

Vertical jumps (High Jump and Pole Vault) set a bar at a particular height. The competitor must clear the bar without knocking it off the standards that are holding the bar (flat). Three failures in a row will end the competitor's participation in the event. The competitor has the option to PASS their attempt, which can be used to strategic advantage (of course that advantage is lost if the competitor misses). A pass could be used to save energy and avoid taking a jump that would not improve their position in the standings. After all competitors have either cleared, passed or failed their attempts at a height, the bar will go up. The amount the bar goes up is predetermined before the competition, though when one competitor remains, that competitor may choose their own heights for the remaining attempts. A record is kept of each attempt by each competitor. After all competitors have taken their attempts, the one jumping the highest is the winner, and so on down the other competitors in the event. Ties are broken by first, the number of attempts taken at the highest height (fewest wins), and then if still tied, by the total number of misses in the competition as a whole. The bar does not go back to a lower height except to break a tie for first place or a qualifying position. If those critical positions are still tied after applying the tiebreakers, all tied competitors will take a fourth jump at the last height. If they still miss, the bar will go down one increment where they will again jump. This process will continue until the tie is broken.

Horizontal jumps (Long Jump and Triple Jump) and all throws must be initiated behind a line. In the case of horizontal jumps, that line is a straight line perpendicular to the runway. In the case of throws, that line is an arc or a circle. Crossing the line while initiating the attempt will invalidate the attempt—it will become a foul. All landings must occur in a sector. For the jumps, that is a sand filled pit, for throws it is a defined sector. A throw landing on the line on the edge of sector is a foul (the inside edge of the line is the outside edge of the sector). Assuming a proper attempt, officials will then measure the distance from the closest landing point back to the line. The measuring tape is carefully straightened to the shortest distance between the point and the line. To accomplish this, the tape must be perfectly perpendicular to the take off line in jumps, or is pulled through the center point of the arc for throws. The officials at the landing end of the tape have the zero, while the officials at the point of initiation will see the length and record the measurement. Whenever a record (or potential record) occurs, that measurement is taken (again) using a steel tape and observed by at least three officials (plus usually the meet referee). Steel tapes tend to be easily bent and damaged, so they are not used to measure everyday competitions. For major competitions, each competitor will get three attempts. The top competitors (usually 8 or 9 depending on that competition's rules or the number of lanes on the track) will get three more attempts. At that level of competition, the order of competitors for those final three attempts are set in order so the competitor in first place at the end of the third round will be last, while the last competitor to qualify will go first. Some meets will rearrange the competition order again for the final round so the final attempt will be taken by the leader at that point. At other competitions, meet management may choose to limit all competitors to four or three attempts. Whatever the format, all competitors get an equal number of attempts.

Organizations

The international governance of track and field falls under the jurisdiction of athletics organisations. The International Association of Athletics Federations is the global governing body for track and field, and athletics as a whole. The governance of track and field at continental and national level is also done by athletics bodies. Some national federations are named after the sport, including USA Track & Field and the Philippine Amateur Track & Field Association, but these organisations govern more than just track and field and are in fact athletics governing bodies. These national federations regulate sub-national and local track and field clubs, as well as other types of running clubs.

Competitions

Olympics and World Championships

The major global track and field competitions are both held under the scope of athletics. Track and field contests make up the majority of events on the Olympic athletics programme which occurs every four years. Track and field events have held a prominent position at the Summer Olympics since its inception in 1896, and the events are typically held in the main stadium of the Olympics. Events such as the 100 metres receive some of the highest levels of media coverage of any Olympic sporting event.

The other two major international competition for track and field are organised by the IAAF. The IAAF had selected the Olympic competition as its world championship event in 1913, but a separate world championships for athletics alone was first held in 1983 – the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The championships comprised track and field competitions plus the marathon and racewalking competitions. Initially, this worked on a quadrennial basis but, after 1991, it changed to a biennial format. In terms of indoor track and field, the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics has been held every two years since 1985 and this is the only world championships that consists of solely track and field events.

Other championships

Similar to the event programmes at the Olympics and World Championships, track and field forms a significant part of continental championships. The South American Championships in Athletics, created in 1919, was the first continental championships and the European Athletics Championships became the second championships of this type in 1934. The Asian Athletics Championships and African Championships in Athletics were created in the 1970s and Oceania started its championships in 1990.

There are also indoor continental competitions in Europe (European Athletics Indoor Championships) and Asia (Asian Indoor Athletics Championships). There has not been a consistent championships for all of North America, which may be (in part) due to the success of both the Central American and Caribbean Championships and the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Most countries have a national championship in track and field and, for athletes, these often play a role in gaining selection into major competitions. In some countries there are many track and field championships at high school and college-level which serve to develop the abilities of younger athletes; some of these have achieved significant exposure and prestige, such as the NCAA Track and Field Championship in the United States and the Jamaican High School Championships. However, the number and status of such competitions significantly vary from country to country.

Multi-sport events

Mirroring the role that track and field events have at the Summer Olympics, the sport is featured within the athletics programmes of many major multi-sport events. Among some of the first of these events to follow the Olympic-style model were the World University Games in 1923, the Commonwealth Games in 1930, and the Maccabiah Games in 1932. The number of major multi-sport events greatly increased during the 20th century and thus did the number of track and field events held within them. Typically, track and field events are hosted at the main stadium of the games.

After the Olympic Games, the most prominent events for track and field athletes include the three IOC-sanctioned continental games: the All-Africa Games, Asian Games, and the Pan American Games. Other games such as the Commonwealth Games and Summer Universiade, and World Masters Games have significant participation from track and field athletes. Track and field is also present at the national games level, with competitions such as the Chinese National Games serving as a the most prestigious national competition for domestic track and field athletes.

Meetings

One-day track and field meetings form the most common and seasonal aspect of the sport – they are the most basic level of track and field competition. Meetings are generally organised annually either under the patronage of an educational institution or sports club, or by a group or business which serves as the meeting promoter. In the case of the former, athletes are selected to represent their club or institution. In the case of privately run or independent meetings, athletes participate on an invitation-only basis.

The most basic type of meetings are all-comers track meets, which are largely small, local, informal competitions that allow people of all ages and abilities to compete. As meetings become more organized they can gain official sanctioning by the local or national association for the sport.

At the professional level, meetings began to offer significant financial incentives for all athletes in the 1990s in Europe with the creation of the "Golden Four" competition, comprising meetings in Zürich, Brussels, Berlin and Oslo. This expanded and received IAAF backing as the IAAF Golden League in 1998, which was later supplemented by the branding of selected meetings worldwide as the IAAF World Athletics Tour. In 2010, the Golden League idea was expanded globally as the IAAF Diamond League series and this now forms the top tier of professional one-day track and field meetings.

Records

Athletes performances are timed or measured at virtually all track and field competitions. Doing so can not only serve as a way of determining the winner in an event, but it can also be used for historical comparison (i.e. a record). A large variety of record types exist and men's and women's performances are recorded separately. The foremost types of records are those which organise athlete's performances by the region which they are representing: beginning with national records, then continental records, up to the global or world record level. National governing bodies control the national record lists, the area associations organise their respective continental lists, and the IAAF is the body which ratifies world records.

The IAAF ratifies track and field world records if they meet their set criteria. The IAAF first published a world records list in 1914, initially for men's events only. There were 53 recognised records in running, hurdling and relay, and 12 field records. World records in women's events began in 1936 as more events were gradually added to the list, but significant changes were made in the late 1970s. First, all records in imperial measurements were abandoned in 1976, with the sole exceptional being the mile run due to the prestige and history of the event. The following year, all world records in sprint events would only be recognised if fully automatic electronic timing was used (as opposed to the traditional hand-timing stopwatch method). In 1981, electronic timing was made compulsory for all world record runs in track and field, with times being recorded to within one hundredth of a second. Two additional types of world record were introduced in 1987: world records for indoor competitions, and world records for junior athletes under 20 years old.

The next most important record type are those achieved at a specific competition – for example the Olympic records which are the best performances by athletes during events at the Summer Olympics. All major championships and games have their relevant competition records and a large number of track and field meetings keep a note of their meet records. Other record types include: stadium records, records by age range, records by disability, and records by institution or organisation. Cash bonuses are usually offered to athletes if they break significant records, as doing so can generate greater interest and public attendance in track and field competitions.

Doping

Track and field athletes are banned from ingesting or using certain substances by governing bodies for the sport, from the national to the global level. The IAAF's constitution incorporates the World Anti-Doping Code among other anti-doping measures. Practices such as blood doping and the use of anabolic steroids, peptide hormones, stimulants, or diuretics can give athletes a physical competitive advantage in track and field. The use of such substances in track and field is opposed on both ethical and medical grounds. Given that the sport functions by measuring and comparing athletes' performances, performance-enhancing substances create an uneven playing field — athletes who do not use doping substances have a disadvantage over rivals who do. Medically, the use of banned substances may have an adverse effect upon athletes' health. However, some exemptions are made for athletes who take banned substances for therapeutic use, and athletes are not sanctioned for usage in these cases, such as Kim Collins' failed drug test due to asthma medication.

In order to prevent the use of performance-enhancing substances, athletes must submit to drug tests that are conducted both in- and out-of-competition by anti-doping officials or accredited medical staff. Athletes found to have taken substances on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list receive sanctions and may be banned from competition for a period of time, reflecting the seriousness of the infraction. However, the use of substances not on the prohibited list may also result in sanctions if the substance is deemed to be similar to a banned substance in either composition or effect. Athletes may also be sanctioned for missing tests, seeking to avoid testing or tampering with results, refusing to submit to testing, through circumstantial evidence, or confession of use.

Doping has played a significant part in the modern history of track and field. State-sponsored doping in East Germany with hormones and anabolic steroids marked the rise of women from the German Democratic Republic in track and field from the late 1960s to the 1980s. A number of these women, such as Marita Koch, broke world records and were highly successful at international competitions. Some athletes, who were following a doping plan from their teenage years, suffered significant health problems as a result of the regime. Ben Johnson ran a new world record in the 100 m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics but was later banned for using anabolic steroids. In the mid-first decade of the 21st century, the BALCO Scandal eventually resulted in the downfall of prominent sprinters such as Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, among others, through their usage of banned substances.

References

External links

International Association of Athletics Federations website

USA Track & Field website

Track and field at About.com

Results & Statistics for Collegiate, High School, Middle School, and Club teams

Masters T&F World Rankings

* Category:Individual sports Category:Athletics by type

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Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
honorific-prefix	The Honourable, C.D.
name	Usain Bolt
nickname	Lightning Bolt
honorific-suffix	OJ
nationality	Jamaican
sport	Track and field
event	100m, 200m, 400m, 4×100m
club	Racers Track Club
birth date	August 21, 1986
birth place	Trelawny, Jamaica
residence	Kingston, Jamaica
height
weight
pb	100m: 9.58 s (WR, Berlin 2009) 150m: 14.35 s (WB, Manchester 2009) 200m: 19.19 s (WR, Berlin 2009) 400m: 45.28 s (Kingston 2007)
medaltemplates	}}

}} The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. (; born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a three-time World and Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events.

Bolt distinguished himself with a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist. In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, he became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s, breaking the previous world junior record held by Roy Martin by two-tenths of a second. He turned professional in 2004, and although he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries. In 2007, he surpassed Don Quarrie's 200 m Jamaican record with a run of 19.75 s.

His 2008 season began with his first world record performance—a 100 m world record of 9.72 s—and culminated in world and Olympic records in both the 100 m and 200 m events at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He ran 9.69 s for the 100 m and 19.30 s in the 200 m, and also set a 4×100 m relay record of 37.10 s with the Jamaican team. This made him the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. The following year he further lowered his own 100 m and 200 m world records to 9.58 s and 19.19 s respectively at the 2009 World Championships. This made him the first man to hold both the 100 and 200 m world and Olympic titles at the same time.

His 2009 record breaking margin over 100 m is the highest since the start of digital time measurements. His achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname "Lightning Bolt", and awards including the ''IAAF World Athlete of the Year'', ''Track & Field Athlete of the Year'', and ''Laureus Sportsman of the Year''.

Early years

Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 in Sherwood Content, a small town in Trelawny, Jamaica, and grew up with his parents, Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, his brother Sadeeki, and his sister Sherine. His parents ran the local grocery store in the rural area, and Bolt spent his time playing cricket and football in the street with his brother, later saying, "When I was young, I didn’t really think about anything other than sports".

As a child, he attended Waldensia Primary and All-age School, and it was here that he first began to show his sprinting potential, running in the annual national primary-schools' meeting for his parish. By the age of twelve, Bolt had become the school's fastest runner over the 100 metres distance.

Upon his entry to William Knibb Memorial High School, Bolt continued to focus on other sports, but his cricket coach noticed Bolt's speed on the pitch and urged him to try track and field events. Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete, and Dwayne Barrett coached Bolt, encouraging him to focus his energy on improving his athletic abilities. The school had a history of success in athletics with past students, including sprinter Michael Green. Bolt won his first annual high school championships medal in 2001, taking the silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 22.04 seconds. McNeil soon became his primary coach, and the two enjoyed a positive partnership, although McNeil was occasionally frustrated by Bolt's lack of dedication to his training and his predisposition to practical jokes.

Early competitions

Performing for Jamaica in his first Caribbean regional event, Bolt clocked a personal best of 48.28 s in the 400 metres in the 2001 CARIFTA Games, winning a silver medal. The 200 m also yielded a silver as Bolt finished in 21.81 s.

He made his first appearance on the world stage at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. Running in the 200 m event, he failed to qualify for the finals, but he still set a new personal best of 21.73 s. Bolt still did not take athletics or himself too seriously, however, and he took his mischievousness to new heights by hiding in the back of a van when he was supposed to be preparing for the 200 m finals at the CARIFTA Trials. He was detained by the police for his practical joke, and there was an outcry from the local community, which blamed coach McNeil for the incident. However, the controversy subsided, and both McNeil and Bolt went to the CARIFTA Games, where Bolt set championship records in the 200 m and 400 m with times of 21.12 s and 47.33 s, respectively. He continued to set records with 20.61 s and 47.12 s finishes at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships.

Former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson recognised Bolt's talent and arranged for him to move to Kingston, along with Jermaine Gonzales, so he could train with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) at the University of Technology, Jamaica.

Rise to prominence

The 2002 World Junior Championships before a home crowd in Kingston, Jamaica, gave Bolt a chance to prove his credentials on the world stage. By the age of 15, he had grown to tall, and he physically stood out amongst his peers. He won the 200 m, in a time of 20.61 s, 0.03 seconds slower than his personal best of 20.58 s set in the 1st round. Bolt's 200 m win made him the youngest world-junior gold medalist ever. The expectation from the home crowd had made him so nervous that he had put his shoes on the wrong feet. However, it turned out to be a revelatory experience for Bolt as he vowed never again to let himself be affected by pre-race nerves. As a member of the Jamaican sprint relay team, he also took two silver medals and set national junior records in the 4×100 metres and 4×400 metres relay, running times of 39.15 s and 3:04.06 minutes respectively.

The flow of medals continued as he won another gold at the 2003 World Youth Championships. He set a new championship record in the 200 m with a time of 20.40 s, despite a 1.1 m/s head wind. Michael Johnson, the 200 m world-record holder, took note of Bolt's potential but worried that the young sprinter might be over-pressured, stating, "It's all about what he does three, four, five years down the line". Bolt had also impressed the athletics hierarchy, and he received the IAAF Rising Star Award for 2002.

Bolt turned his main focus to the 200 m and equalled Roy Martin's world junior record of 20.13 s at the Pan-American Junior Championships. This performance attracted interest from the press, and his times in the 200 m and 400 m led to him being touted as a possible successor to Johnson. Indeed, at sixteen years old, Bolt had reached times that Johnson did not register until he was twenty, and Bolt's 200 m time was superior to Maurice Greene's season's best that year.

In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003, he broke both the 200 m and 400 m records with times of 20.25 s and 45.30 s, respectively. Bolt's runs were a significant improvement upon the previous records, beating the 200 m best by more than half a second and the 400 m record by almost a second.

Bolt was growing more popular in his homeland. Howard Hamilton, who was given the task of Public Defender by the government, urged the JAAA to nurture him and prevent burnout, calling Bolt "the most phenomenal sprinter ever produced by this island". His popularity and the attractions of the capital city were beginning to be a burden to the young sprinter. Bolt was increasingly unfocused on his athletic career and preferred to eat fast food, play basketball, and party in Kingston's club scene. In the absence of a disciplined lifestyle, he became ever-more reliant on his natural ability to beat his competitors on the track.

As the reigning 200 m champion at both the World Youth and World Junior championships, Bolt hoped to take a clean sweep of the world 200 m championships in the Senior World Championships in Paris. Bolt beat all comers at the 200 m in the World Championship trials, but he was pragmatic about his chances and noted that, even if he did not make the final, he would consider setting a personal best a success. However, he suffered a bout of conjunctivitis before the event, and it ruined his training schedule. Realising he would not be in peak condition, the JAAA refused to let him participate in the finals on the grounds that he was too young and inexperienced. Bolt was dismayed at missing out on the opportunity, but focused on getting himself in shape to gain a place on the Jamaican Olympic team instead. Even though he missed the World Championships, Bolt was awarded the IAAF Rising Star Award for the 2003 season on the strength of his junior record-equalling run.

Professional athletics career

Under the guidance of new coach Fitz Coleman, Bolt turned professional in 2004, beginning with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda. He became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under twenty seconds, taking the world junior record outright with a time of 19.93 s. A hamstring injury in May ruined Bolt's chances of competing in the 2004 World Junior Championships, but he was still chosen for the Jamaican Olympic squad. Bolt headed to the 2004 Athens Olympics with confidence and a new record on his side. However, he was hampered by a leg injury and was eliminated in the first round of the 200 metres with a disappointing time of 21.05 s. American colleges offered Bolt track scholarships on the strength of his performances, but the teenager from Trelawny refused them all, stating that he was content to stay in his homeland of Jamaica. Bolt instead chose the surroundings of the University of Technology, Jamaica, as his professional training ground, staying with the university's primitive track and weight room that had served him well in his amateur years.

The year 2005 signalled a fresh start for Bolt in the form of a new coach, Glen Mills, and a new attitude to athletics. Mills recognised Bolt's potential and aimed to cease the sprinter's unprofessional approach to the sport. Bolt began training with Mills in preparation for the upcoming athletics season, partnering with more-seasoned sprinters such as Kim Collins and Dwain Chambers. The year began well, and in July he knocked more than a third of a second off the 200 m CAC Championship record with a run of 20.03 s, then registered his 200 m season's best at London's Crystal Palace, running in 19.99 s. Misfortune awaited Bolt at the next major event, the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Bolt felt that both his work ethic and athleticism had much improved since the 2004 Olympics, and he saw the World Championships as a way to live up to expectations, stating, "I really want to make up for what happened in Athens. Hopefully, everything will fall into place". Bolt qualified with runs under 21 s, but he suffered an injury in the final, finishing in last place with a time of 26.27 s. Injuries were preventing him from completing a full professional athletics season, and the eighteen-year-old Bolt still had not proven his mettle in the major world-athletics competitions. Bolt was involved in a car accident in November, and although he suffered only minor facial lacerations, his training schedule was further upset. His manager, Norman Peart, made Bolt's training less intensive, and he had fully recuperated the following week. Bolt had continued to improve his performances, and he reached the world top-5 rankings in 2005 and 2006. Peart and Mills stated their intentions to push Bolt to do longer sprinting distances with the aim of making the 400 m event his primary event by 2007 or 2008. Bolt was less enthusiastic, and demanded that he feel comfortable in his sprinting. He suffered another hamstring injury in March 2006, forcing him to withdraw from the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and he did not return to track events until May. After his recovery, Bolt was given new training exercises to improve flexibility, and the plans to move him up to the 400 m event were put on hold.

Upon his return to competition, the 200 m remained his primary event, and he beat Justin Gatlin's meet record in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Bolt had aspired to run under twenty seconds to claim a season's best but, despite the fact that bad weather had impaired his run, he was happy to end the meeting with just the victory. However, a sub-20-second finish was soon his, as he set a new personal best of 19.88 s at the 2006 Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, finishing behind Xavier Carter and Tyson Gay to earn a bronze medal. Bolt had focused his athletics aims, stating that 2006 was a year to gain experience. Also, he was more keen on competing over longer distances, setting his sights on running regularly in both 200 m and 400 m events within the next two years. Bolt claimed his first major world medal two months later at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany. He passed the finishing post with a time of 20.10 s, gaining a bronze medal in the process. The IAAF World Cup in Athens, Greece, yielded Bolt's first senior international silver medal. Wallace Spearmon from the United States won gold with a championship record time of 19.87 s, beating Bolt's respectable time of 19.96 s. Further 200 m honours on both the regional and international stages awaited Bolt in 2007. The young Jamaican yearned to run in the 100 metres, but coach Mills diverted his attention, stating that he could run the shorter distance if he broke the 200 m national record. In the Jamaican Championships, he ran 19.75 s in the 200 m, breaking the 36-year-old Jamaican record held by Don Quarrie by 0.11 s.

Mills complied with Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m, and he was entered to run the event at the 23rd Vardinoyiannia meeting in Rethymno, Crete. In his debut tournament run, he set a personal best of 10.03 s, winning the gold medal and feeding his enthusiasm for the event.

He built on this achievement at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, winning a silver medal. Bolt recorded 19.91 s with a headwind of 0.8 m/s but this paled in comparison with Tyson Gay's time of 19.76 s, which set a new championship record.

The Jamaican national record fell when Bolt partnered with Asafa Powell, Marvin Anderson, and Nesta Carter in the 4×100 metres relay. However, their finish in 37.89 s was not enough to beat the Americans' time of 37.78 s. Bolt did not win any gold medals at the major tournaments in 2007, but Mills felt that Bolt's technique was much improved, pinpointing improvements in Bolt's balance at the turns over 200 m and an increase in his stride frequency, giving him more driving power on the track.

World-record breaker

The silver medals from the 2007 Osaka World Championships boosted Bolt's desire to run, and he took a more serious, more mature stance towards his career. Bolt continued to develop in the 100 m, and he entered to run in the event at the Jamaica Invitational in Kingston. On 3 May 2008, Bolt ran a time of 9.76 s, aided by a tail wind of 1.8 m/s, considerably improving upon his previous personal best of 10.03 s. This was the second-fastest legal performance in the history of the event; second only to compatriot Asafa Powell's 9.74 s record set the previous year in Rieti, Italy. Rival Tyson Gay lauded the performance, praising Bolt's form and technique especially. Michael Johnson, who was observing the race, said that he was shocked at how quickly he had improved over the 100 m distance. The Jamaican surprised even himself with the time, but coach Glen Mills remained confident that there was more to come.

Mills' prediction came true before the end of the month when Bolt established a new 100 m world record on 31 May 2008. Pushed on by a tail wind of 1.7 m/s, Bolt ran 9.72 s at the Reebok Grand Prix held in the Icahn Stadium in New York City, breaking Powell's record. The record time was even more remarkable in light of the fact that it was only his fifth senior run over the distance. Gay again finished second and commended Bolt's physical superiority, stating, "It looked like his knees were going past my face". Commentators noted that Bolt appeared to have gained a psychological advantage over fellow Olympic contender Gay.

In June 2008, Bolt responded to claims that he was a lazy athlete, saying that the comments were unjustified, and he trained hard to achieve his potential. However, he surmised that such comments stemmed from his lack of enthusiasm for the 400 metres event, and chose to not make the effort to train for distance running. Turning his efforts to the 200 m, Bolt proved that he could excel in multiple events—first setting the world-leading time in Ostrava, then breaking the national record for the second time with a 19.67 s finish in Athens, Greece. Although Mills still preferred that Bolt focus on the longer distances, the acceptance of Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m worked for both sprinter and trainer. Bolt was more focused in practice, and a training schedule to boost his top speed and his stamina, in preparation for the Olympics, had improved both his 100 m and 200 m times. His confidence was building, and he was sure that he would perform well in the upcoming Olympics.

2008 Summer Olympics

Bolt announced that he would double-up with the 100 metres and 200 metres events at the Beijing Summer Olympics, and the new 100 m world-record holder was the favourite to win both. Michael Johnson, the 200 m and 400 m record holder, personally backed the sprinter, saying that he did not believe that a lack of experience would work against him. Bolt qualified for the 100 m final with times of 9.92 s and 9.85 s in the quarter-finals and semifinals, respectively.

In the Olympic 100 m final, Bolt broke new ground, winning in 9.69 s (unofficially 9.683 s) with a reaction time of 0.165 s. This was an improvement upon his own world record, and he was well ahead of second-place finisher Richard Thompson, who finished in 9.89 s. Not only was the record set without a favourable wind (+0.0 m/s), but he also visibly slowed down to celebrate before he finished and his shoelace was untied. Bolt's coach reported that, based upon the speed of Bolt's opening 60 m, he could have finished with a time of 9.52 s. After scientific analysis of Bolt's run by the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo, Hans Eriksen and his colleagues also predicted a sub 9.60 s time. Considering factors such as Bolt's position, acceleration and velocity in comparison with second-place-finisher Thompson, the team estimated that Bolt could have finished in 9.55±0.04 s had he not slowed to celebrate before the finishing line.

Bolt stated that setting a record was not a priority for him, and that his goal was just to win the gold medal, Jamaica's first of the 2008 Games. Olympic medalist Kriss Akabusi construed Bolt's chest slapping before the finish line as showboating, noting that the actions cost Bolt an even faster record time. IOC president Jacques Rogge also condemned the Jamaican's actions as disrespectful. Bolt denied that this was the purpose of his celebration by saying, "I wasn't bragging. When I saw I wasn't covered, I was just happy". Lamine Diack, president of the IAAF, supported Bolt and said that his celebration was appropriate given the circumstances of his victory. Jamaican government minister Edmund Bartlett also defended Bolt's actions, stating, "We have to see it in the glory of their moment and give it to them. We have to allow the personality of youth to express itself".

Bolt then focused on attaining a gold medal in the 200 m event, aiming to emulate Carl Lewis' double win in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Michael Johnson felt that Bolt would easily win gold but believed that his own world record of 19.32 s set at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta would remain intact at the Olympics. Bolt eased through the first and second rounds of the 200 m, jogging towards the end of his run both times. He won his semifinal and progressed to the final as the favourite to win. Retired Jamaican sprinter Don Quarrie praised Bolt, saying he was confident that Johnson's record could be beaten. The following day, at the final, he won Jamaica's fourth gold of the Games, setting a new world and Olympic record of 19.30 s. Johnson's record fell despite the fact that Bolt was impeded by a 0.9 m/s headwind. The feat made him the first sprinter since Quarrie to hold both 100 m and 200 m world records simultaneously and the first since the introduction of electronic timing. Furthermore, Bolt became the first sprinter to break both records at the same Olympics. Unlike in the 100 m final, Bolt sprinted hard all the way to the finishing line in the 200 m race, even dipping his chest to improve his time. Following the race, "Happy Birthday" was played over the stadium's sound system as his 22nd birthday would begin at midnight.

Two days later, Bolt ran as the third leg in the Jamaican 4x100 metres relay team, increasing his gold medal total to three. Along with teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, and Asafa Powell, Bolt broke another world and Olympic record, their 37.10 s finish breaking the previous record by three tenths of a second. Powell, who anchored the team to the finishing line, lamented the loss of his 100 m record to Bolt but showed no animosity towards his Jamaican rival, stating that he was delighted to help him set his third world record. Following his victories, Bolt donated US$50,000 to the children of the Sichuan province of China to help those harmed by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Bolt's record-setting runs caused commentators not only to praise his achievements but also to speculate about his potential to become one of the most successful sprinters ever. Critics hailed his Olympic success as a new beginning for a sport that had long suffered through high-profile drug scandals. The previous six years had seen the BALCO scandal, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin stripped of their 100 m world records, and Marion Jones returning three Olympic gold medals. All three sprinters were disqualified from athletics after drugs tests detected banned substances in their systems. Bolt's record-breaking performances caused suspicion among some commentators, including Victor Conte, and the lack of an independent Caribbean anti-doping federation raised more concerns. The accusations of drug use were vehemently rejected by Glen Mills (Bolt's coach) and Herb Elliott (the Jamaican athletics team doctor). Elliott, a member of the IAAF anti-doping commission, urged those concerned about the issue to "come down and see our programme, come down and see our testing, we have nothing to hide". Mills had been equally ardent that Bolt was a clean athlete, declaring to the ''Jamaica Gleaner'': "We will test any time, any day, any part of the body...[he] doesn't even like to take vitamins". Bolt stated that he had been tested four times prior to the Olympics, and all had tested negative for banned substances. He also welcomed anti-doping authorities to test him to prove that he was clean, stating, "We work hard and we perform well and we know we're clean".

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After the Olympics

The end of the 2008 athletics season saw Bolt compete in the ÅF Golden League, beginning in Weltklasse Zürich. Despite having the slowest start among his competitors in the 100 m race, he still crossed the finishing line in 9.83 s. Even though the time was slower than both his newly set world record and Asafa Powell's track record, it was still among the top-fifteen 100 m finishes by any sprinter to that date. Bolt admitted that he was not running at full strength, suffering from a cold, but he had concentrated on both winning the race and finishing the season in good health. At the Super Grand Prix final in Lausanne, Bolt ran his second-fastest 200 m with a time of 19.63 s, equalling Xavier Carter's track record. However, it was the 100 m final, featuring Asafa Powell, that drew the most interest. Powell had moved closer to Bolt's world record after setting a new personal best of 9.72 s, reaffirming his status as Bolt's main contender. Bolt's final event of the season came three days later at the Golden League final in Brussels. This was the first 100 m race featuring both Bolt and Powell since the final in the Olympics. Both Jamaicans broke the track record, but Bolt came out on top with a time of 9.77 s, beating Powell by 0.06 s. Victory, however, did not come as smoothly as it had in Beijing. Bolt made the slowest start of the nine competitors and had to recover ground in cold conditions and against a 0.9 m/s headwind. Yet the results confirmed Jamaican dominance in the 100 m, with nine of the ten-fastest legal times in history being recorded by either Bolt or Powell. On his return to Jamaica, Bolt was honoured in a homecoming celebration and received an Order of Distinction in recognition of his achievements at the Olympics.

He was selected as the IAAF Male Athlete of the year and won a Special Olympic Award for his performances. However, Bolt turned his attention to future events, suggesting that he could aim to break the 400 metres world record in 2010 as no major championships were scheduled that year.

2009 Berlin World Championships

Bolt started the season competing over 400 metres in order to improve his speed, winning two races and registering 45.54 s in Kingston, and windy conditions gave him his first sub-10 second finish of the season in the 100 m in March. In late April Bolt suffered minor leg injuries in a car crash. However, he quickly recovered following minor surgery and (after cancelling a track meet in Jamaica) he stated that he was fit to compete in the 150 metres street race at the Manchester Great City Games. Bolt won the race in 14.35 s, the fastest time ever recorded for 150 m. Despite not being at full fitness, he took the 100 and 200 m titles at the Jamaican national championships, with runs of 9.86 s and 20.25 s respectively. This meant he had qualified for both events at the 2009 World Championships. Rival Tyson Gay suggested that Bolt's 100 m record was within his grasp, but Bolt dismissed the claim and instead noted that he was more interested in Asafa Powell's return from injury. Bolt defied unfavourable conditions at the Athletissima meet in July, running 19.59 seconds into a 0.9 m/s headwind and rain, to record the fourth fastest time ever over 200 m, one hundredth off Gay's best time.

At the 2009 World Championships in August, Bolt eased through the 100 m heats, clocking the fastest ever pre-final performance of 9.89 seconds. The final was the first time Bolt and Gay had met in the season, and Bolt improved his world record with a time of 9.58 s to win his first World Championship gold medal. Gay finished with a time of 9.71 s, 0.02 s off Bolt's 9.69 s world-record run in Beijing. Taking over a tenth of a second off the previous best mark, this was the largest ever margin of improvement in the 100 m world record since the beginning of electronic timing.

Although Gay withdrew from the second race of the competition, the Jamaican once again produced world record-breaking form in the 200 metres final. He broke his own record by 0.11 seconds, finishing with a time of 19.19 seconds. He won the 200 m race by the biggest margin in World Championships history, even though the race had three other athletes running under 19.90 seconds, the greatest number ever in the event. Bolt's pace impressed even the more experienced of his competitors; third-placed Wallace Spearmon complimented his speed, and former Olympic champion Shawn Crawford said "Just coming out there...I felt like I was in a video game, that guy was moving – fast". Bolt pointed out that an important factor in his performance at the World Championships was his improved start to the races: his reaction times in the 100 m (0.146) and 200 m (0.133) were significantly faster than those he had produced in his world record runs at the Beijing Olympics. However, he, together with other members of Jamaican 4x100 m relay team, fell short of their own world record of 37.10 s set at 2008 Summer Olympics by timing 37.31 s, which is, however, a championship record and the second fastest time in history at that date.

On the last day of the Berlin Championships, the governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, presented Bolt with a 12-foot high section of the Berlin Wall in a small ceremony, saying Bolt had shown that “one can tear down walls that had been considered as insurmountable.” The nearly three-ton segment will be delivered to Bolt's training camp in Jamaica.

Several days after Bolt broke the world records in 100 and 200 metres events, Mike Powell, the world record holder in long jump (8.95 metres set in 1991) argued that Bolt could become the first man to jump over 9 metres, the long jump event being "a perfect fit for his speed and height". At the end of the season he was selected as the IAAF World Athlete of the Year for the second year running.

2010: Diamond League and broken streak

Early on in the 2010 outdoor season, Bolt ran 19.56 seconds in the 200 m in Kingston, Jamaica for the fourth-fastest run of all-time, although he stated that he had no record breaking ambitions for the forthcoming season. He took to the international circuit May with wins in East Asia at the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting and then a comfortable win in his 2010 IAAF Diamond League debut at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. Bolt made an attempt to break Michael Johnson's best time over the rarely competed 300 metres event at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava. He failed to match Johnson's ten-year-old record of 30.85 and suffered a setback in that his 30.97-second run in wet weather had left him with an Achilles tendon problem.

On his return from injury a month later, he asserted himself with a 100 m win at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne (9.82 seconds) and a victory over Asafa Powell at Meeting Areva in Paris (9.84 seconds). Despite this run of form, he suffered only the second loss of his career in a 100 m final at the DN Galan. Tyson Gay soundly defeated him with a run of 9.84 to Bolt's 9.97 seconds, and the Jamaican reflected that he had slacked off in training early in the season while Gay had been better prepared and in a better condition. This marked Bolt's first loss to Gay over 100 m, which coincidentally occurred in the same stadium where Powell had beaten Bolt for the first time two years earlier.

2011 Daegu World Championships

Considered the overwhelming favourite to win in the 100 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Bolt was eliminated from the final for a false start. Usain Bolt's countryman, Yohan Blake won in a season best of 9.92 seconds.

Personal life

Bolt expresses a love for dancing and his character is frequently described as laid-back and relaxed. Bolt's Jamaican track and field idols include Herb McKenley and former Jamaican 100 m 200 m world record holder, Don Quarrie. Michael Johnson, the former 200 m world and Olympic record holder, is also held in high esteem by Bolt. The first sport to interest him was cricket and he said if he was not a sprinter he would be a fast bowler instead. As a child he was a supporter of Pakistan and admired the bowling of Waqar Younis. He is also a fan of Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, West Indian opener Chris Gayle and Australian opener Matthew Hayden. During a charity cricket match Bolt clean bowled West Indies captain and legendary batsman Chris Gayle. Gayle was complimentary of Bolt's pace and swing. Bolt also whacked a six as he showed off his batting skills as well. The six came off Chris Gayle's bowling. Another bowler complimentary of Bolt's pace was former West Indies fast-bowling great Curtly Ambrose. Bolt has also expressed his love for football and is a fan of Manchester United as well as Real Madrid. Bolt has also declared he is a fan of Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. Following a race in Manchester, he met the team at their training ground and offered Portuguese national Cristiano Ronaldo some sprinting advice. Bolt was a special guest of Manchester United at the 2011 UEFA Champions League final in London, where he stated he'd like to play for them after he retires.

In 2010, he also revealed his fondness of music, when he played a reggae DJ set to a crowd in Paris.

After winning the 200 m title in the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, Bolt signed a sponsorship deal with Puma. To promote Bolt's chase for Olympic glory in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Puma released a series of videos including Bolt's then-world-record-setting run in Icahn Stadium and his Olympic preparations. After his world record breaking run in New York City, which was preceded by a lightning storm, the press frequently made puns on the Jamaican's name, nicknaming him "Lightning Bolt" and the "Bolt from the blue". During the Beijing 2008 100 m final, Bolt wore golden Puma Complete Theseus spikes that had "Beijing 100 m Gold" emblazoned across them. His athletics agent is PACE Sports Management.

In 2010, Bolt signed a lucrative publishing deal with HarperCollins for an autobiography, which was negotiated by Chris Nathaniel of NVA Management. This is scheduled for release in 2012. During a press conference in Paris on 15 July 2010, Bolt declined any comment on what would be contained within the book saying, "you can't really give away anything in your book ... should be exciting, it's my life, and I'm a cool and exciting guy".

Recognition

As a result of Bolt's successes in athletics, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2009 and 2010.

IAAF World Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009

Track & Field Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: 2009, 2010

BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: 2008, 2009

Statistics

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Personal bests

!Event	!Time (seconds)	!Venue	!Date	!Records	!Notes
100 metres	9.58	Berlin, Germany	16 August 2009
150 metres	14.35	Manchester, United Kingdom	17 May 2009	World best	He ran the last 100 m in 8.70, the fastest ever recorded time over a 100 m distance. This would equal an average speed of 41.38 km/h.
	19.19	Berlin, Germany	20 August 2009
300 metres	30.97	Ostrava, Czech Republic	27 May 2010		This is the second fastest time, behind Michael Johnson's 30.85.
400 metres	45.28		5 May 2007
	37.10	Beijing, China			Shared with Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter. Also holds the second fastest time with 37.31.

Records

Bolt's personal best of 9.58 seconds in the 100 metres is the fastest ever legal time. Bolt also holds the second fastest time of 9.69 seconds (more precisely 9.683), the current Olympic record. Tyson Gay recorded a time of 9.68 s at the 2008 US Olympic Trials, but was aided with a tail wind of 4.1 m/s, exceeding the legal limit of 2.0 m/s set by the IAAF and nullifying its inclusion as a world record. Obadele Thompson's run of 9.69 s in 1996 is also not recognised as it was aided by a 5.0 m/s tail wind.

Bolt's personal best of 19.19 s in the 200 metres is the world record. This was recorded at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin against a headwind of −0.3 m/s. He has also broken the Olympic record with a time of 19.30 s (more precisely 19.296 s)

The Jamaican relay team including Bolt, set the 4x100 metres world and Olympic records at the 2008 Olympics with a time of 37.10 seconds. This is the only run in the IAAF top ten performances which was not set by an American team.

Bolt also holds the 200 metres world teenage best results for the age categories 15 (20.58 s), 16 (20.13 s, world youth record), 17 (19.93 s) and 18 (19.93 s, world junior record). He also holds the 150 metres world best set in 2009, during which he ran the last 100 metres in 8.70 seconds, the quickest timed 100 metres ever.

Average speed

From his record time of 9.58 s for the 100 m sprint Usain Bolt's average ground speed equates to: 37.58 km/h or 23.35 mph. However, once his reaction time of 0.15 s is subtracted, his time is closer to 9.43 s, making his average speed closer to 38.18 km/h or 23.72 mph.

Honours

{| |- |rowspan=3|2002 |rowspan=3|World Junior Championships |rowspan=3|Kingston, Jamaica | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.61 |- | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |4×100 m relay |39.15 NJR |- | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |4×400 m relay |3:04.06 NJR |- |2003 |World Youth Championships |Sherbrooke, Canada | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.40 |- |rowspan=2|2003 |rowspan=2|Pan American Junior Championships |rowspan=2|Bridgetown, Barbados | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.13 WYB |- | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |4×100 m relay |39.40 |- |2004 |CARIFTA Games |Hamilton, Bermuda | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |19.93 WJR |- |2005 |Central American and Caribbean Championships |Nassau, Bahamas | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 m |20.03 |- |2006 |World Athletics Final |Stuttgart, Germany | style="background:#c96;"| 3rd |200 m |20.10 |- |2006 |IAAF World Cup |Athens, Greece | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |200 m |19.96 |- |2007 |World Championships |Osaka, Japan | style="background:silver;"| 2nd |200 metres |19.91 |- |2008 |Reebok Grand Prix |New York City, United States | style="background:gold;"| 1st |100 m |9.72 |- |rowspan=3|2008 |rowspan=3|Olympic Games |rowspan=3|Beijing, China | style="background:gold;"| 1st |100 metres |9.69 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 metres |19.30 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |4×100 metres relay |37.10 |- |rowspan=3|2009 |rowspan=3|World Championships |rowspan=3|Berlin, Germany | style="background:gold;"| 1st |100 metres |9.58 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |200 metres |19.19 |- | style="background:gold;"| 1st |4×100 metres relay |37.31 CR |}

See also

Men's 100 metres world record progression

Men's 200 metres world record progression

List of multiple Olympic gold medalists

List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games

Athletics in Jamaica

Jamaica at the Olympics

References

External links

Official website

Usain Bolt timeline via ''The Daily Telegraph''

Lightning Strikes Twice – slideshow by ''The First Post''

Asafa Powell}} |- |- Tyson Gay}} David Rudisha}} |- |- Roger Federer}} Rafael Nadal}} |- |- |- Asafa Powell}} Tyson Gay}} Tyson Gay}}

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:Male sprinters Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Jamaican sprinters Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:Olympic athletes of Jamaica Category:Olympic gold medalists for Jamaica Category:People from Trelawny Parish Category:World record holders in athletics (track and field) Category:Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571-1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542-1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440-1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736-1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310-1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Empress of Russian

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853-1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman Emperor

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712-1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594-1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553-1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007-1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057-1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440-1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358-1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398-1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010-1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215-1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326-1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238-1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076-1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Narai (1633-1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Naresuan (1555-1605), King of Ayutthaya

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672-1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239-1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014-1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082-1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397-1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433-1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734-1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Timur (1336-1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020-1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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