The rules and format of the modern events in athletics were defined in Western Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century, and were then spread to other parts of the world.

The word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētēs, "combatant in public games") from ἆθλον (athlon, "prize") or ἆθλος (athlos, "competition").

[2] Initially, the term described athletic contests in general – i.e. sporting competition based primarily on human physical feats.

In the 19th century, the term athletics acquired a more narrow definition in Europe and came to describe sports involving competitive running, walking, jumping and throwing.

[4] The Tailteann Games were an ancient Celtic festival in Ireland, founded c. 1800 BC, and the thirty-day meeting included running and stone-throwing among its sporting events.

[6] The Cotswold Olympic Games, a sports festival which emerged in 17th century England, featured athletics in the form of sledgehammer throwing contests.

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.

A small number of half marathons and road mile races, including the Great North Run, attract similar attention.

Competitions would over time be expanded to include mainly athletes with amputation, cerebral palsy and visual impairment, in addition to wheelchair events.

Track and field competitions emerged in the late 19th century and were typically contested between athletes who were representing rival educational institutions, military organisations and sports clubs.

The sport became professionalised as footmen were hired specifically on their athletic ability and began to devote their lives to training for the gambling events.

[30] Ekiden contests – which originated in Japan and remain very popular there – are a relay race variation on the marathon, being in contrast to the typically individual sport of road running.

Cross country running is the most naturalistic of the sports in athletics as competitions take place on open-air courses over surfaces such as grass, woodland trails, and earth.

The sport gained popularity in British, then American schools in the 19th century and culminated in the creation of the first International Cross Country Championships in 1903.

One variation on traditional cross country is mountain running, which incorporates significant uphill and downhill sections as an additional challenge to the course.

Racewalkers must always have a foot in contact with the ground and their advancing leg must be straightened, not bent at the knee – failure to follow these rules results in disqualification from the race.

[35] The question of eligibility for the women's division continued to be a contentious and public issue into the 21st century, with Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand bearing periods of ineligibility and taking the IAAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over their bans under the hyperandrogenism rules.

[45] For competitions where age is not taken into account, this is known as senior or open class athletics; in international rules there remain some restrictions on younger people competing in endurance events for health reasons .

One prominent incident was Olympic medalist Thomas Longosiwa, who provided a falsified passport to compete at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics at age 24.

[46] Age falsification for youth categories is mostly limited to less developed parts of the world, such as Africa and South Asia, which have less stringent controls on official documentation and many mature athletes engaging in high school competition due to disruptions to education.

The speed of wheel chair racers has caused difficulties for race organisers in properly staggering their start times compared to runners.

Legally blind Marla Runyan ran in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and won a gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1999 Pan American Games.

Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee, was a semi-finalist at the 2011 World Championships and won a silver medal as part of South Africa's 4 × 400 metres relay team.

There is no standardised form of cross country course and each venue is significantly defined by the environment it contains – some may be relatively flat and featureless, while others may be more challenging with natural obstacles, tight turns, and undulating ground.

Severe obstacles such as deep ditches, high barriers and thick undergrowth not normally present; the course should be able to be completed whilst remaining on foot throughout.

In order to maintain the sport's distinction from road running, the usage of unnatural or macadamised surfaces is generally kept to a minimum or avoided entirely.

Courses may be measured and designed to cover a standardised distance, such as 10 km (6.2 mi), or they may simply follow a set route between two landmarks.

[70] Following the model of the Olympics, various other multi-sport events arose during the 20th century, which included athletics as a core sport within the programme from the outset.

African, Asian, European, North & Central and Caribbean (NACAC), Oceania and South American Athletics Championships are held regularly in a variety of configurations.

Chariots of Fire, perhaps one of the most well-known athletics films, is a fictionalised account of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams's chase for sprint gold medals at the 1924 Olympics.