Like many of today’s action sports, athletics has its origins in the first Olympic Games in Greece. When you start to investigate who invented athletics, you discover that again, like football, athletics disappeared during the “dark” ages and reappeared with a modern organization during the 19th century.

Since they didn’t have jeeps, tanks, and trucks in the ancient world, soldiers took pride in their athleticism. Running was one of the first competitive sports and it’s also one of today’s favorite games. There is some controversy over when exactly the Olympics began, with a gap in conjecture as early as 776 BC. C. until the 9th or 10th century BC. c.

There was also a gap in the games, during the Middle Ages. In 1896, they were held in Athens again, as the organizers tried to revive the old tradition. A feature of these games was what is now known as a “marathon race”. It was called “marathon” in honor of Pheidippides’ race in 490 BC from the Greek city of Marathon to Sparta. He ran all day to warn his fellow soldiers of the Persian invasions at Marathon. That distance was about 149 miles; today’s races are around 26 miles, considerably shorter. When London hosted the 1908 Olympics, his “marathon” race was 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 kilometers), from the starting point to the stadium.

So if you want to consider who invented athletics, you might want to give Pheidippides that honor. However, bronze tripods were discovered before his career, in the 10th century BC. C., which some believe may have been prizes from earlier games at Olympia. Or, if you want to look at the more sophisticated development of athletics, consider the year 1849, in England, when the Royal Military Academy organized its first athletics competition. Maybe they should get credit for who invented athletics?

The old games were eventually expanded to include more running, boxing, wrestling, and a pentathlon with five running, throwing, and jumping events. In the US, organized track and field events date back to the 1860s. Collegiate and amateur groups were formed here in 1873 and 1888 respectively. Organized sporting events for men grew with the first NCAA national championships in 1921. Women, who had only recently received suffrage in the US, were included in the games in 1928. Making history, in 1952, the Soviet Union he sent his first teams to the Olympics. Fierce competition between the USSR and the US continued throughout the Cold War for the next 30 years. In the standard Olympic tradition, wars are suspended for their duration to allow all countries to participate in peace.

Today’s favorite events include multi-sport competitions in Pentathlon (5 sports), Heptathlon (7), and Decathlon (10). The Athletics Congress (USA) and the International Amateur Athletics Congress determine the sports rules. The games are limited to amateurs; professional athletes may not participate or are prohibited.