Athletics Events

Javelin

Javelin is a field event that involves throwing a metal spear. Depending on your age and gender, your javelin will be weighted between 1kg to 400grams. Javelin is one of the most technical events. Using one arm, a metal-tipped javelin is thrown as far as possible. The athlete must hold the javelin by its corded grip with his or her little finger closest to the tip of the implement. For the throw to be measured the athlete must not turn his or her back to the landing area at any stage during their approach and throw; they must throw the javelin over the upper part of their throwing arm; and they must not cross the foul line, aka scratch line, at any time. The javelin must also land tip first and within the marked 29-degree sector. If the tip touches the ground first the throw is measured from this point. Athletes will commonly throw four or six times per competition. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the athlete with the next best effort.

Pole Vault

Competitors vault over a 4.5m-long horizontal bar by sprinting along a runway and jamming a pole against a stop board at the back of a recessed metal box sited centrally at the base of the uprights. They seek to clear the greatest height without knocking the bar to the ground. All competitors have three attempts per height, although they can elect to pass, i.e. advance to a greater height despite not having cleared the current one. Three consecutive failures at the same height, or combination of heights, cause a competitors elimination. If competitors are tied on the same height, the winner will have had the least failures at that height. If competitors are still tied, the winner will have had the least failures across the entire competition. Thereafter a jump-off will decide the winner. Pole vaulting, originally for distance, dates back to at least the 16th century and there is also evidence it was even practised in Ancient Greece. The origins of modern vaulting can be traced back to Germany in the 1850s, when the sport was adopted by a gymnastic association, and also in the Lake District region of England, where contests were held with ash or hickory poles with iron spikes in the end. The first recorded use of bamboo poles was in 1857. The top vaulters started using steel poles in the 1940s and flexible fibreglass, and later carbon fibre, poles started to be widely used in the late 1950s.

400m Hurdles

Competitors run once around a 400m track and clear ten evenly-spaced hurdles in the process. They start from blocks placed in staggered positions and run in lanes. A reaction time measured by sensors in the starting pistol and on the blocks of less than 0.1 is deemed a false start and all the runners are recalled. After one false start anyone responsible for a subsequent false start is disqualified immediately. A runner can also be disqualified if he or she steps out of their designated lane. Men jump hurdles that are 36in (91.4cm) high; women negotiate 30in (76.2cm) barriers. The hurdles are knocked down easily if touched, which allows the athlete to continue even if he or she collides with them. The first 440-yard hurdles race was staged in Oxford, England, circa 1860. Competitors had to tackle 12 huge (100cm) wooden barriers that were sunk into the ground. The 400m hurdles became a standard discipline for men at the 1900 Olympics. Eighty-four years later, women contested the event at the Games in Los Angeles. When Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco won the inaugural womens title in 1984 she became the first African female Olympic champion, as well as the first champion from an Islamic nation. The USA has racked up 18 Olympic titles in the mens event. The Caribbean nations also pose a strong threat. Surprisingly Americas women have never won Olympic gold but they remain one of the stronger nations, along with Russia and Australia.