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

The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BC was a stadium-length foot race, or "stade," run on a track

The longest athletics event is the men’s 50km walk

Sergei Bubka set the men’s world record for pole vault is 6.15m. The bar was set at the height of a small two-story building!

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

In shot putt, men use a 7.26kg shot and women use a 4kg shot and aim to putt (not throw) it as far as possible

Track and field athletics is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing, jumping and walking

The hammer throw event has its root traced back to Scotland, Ireland and England around 2000DC. At that time, the hammer was used as a weapon

The current world record for men’s 100m spirit is 9.58 seconds, held by Usain Bolt of Jamaica. Record broken at the World Championships Athletics in Berlin, 16/08/2009