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History of Athletics • • The history of athletics traces back to the first Olympic Games, held in Athens in 776 BC. These Olympics involved only one event, this being the ‘stade foot race’, which covered the length of the Athenian Olympic Stadium. The Olympic games continued to be held in Athens every four years, and over time events such as distance running, the discus, javelin, jumping and wrestling. Training for Ancient Athletics Ever since Ancient times, successful athletes have been greatly admired. In the ancient times of the sport, athletes that were competing in the Olympics would start to train 10 months before the event, with three different trainers. These trainers were paidotribes, who were responsible for the physical training; the gymnastes, who were responsible for exercise training and the aleiptes, who were responsible for massaging and relaxing the athletes’ body. When training for the Olympics, the athlete would start training 10 months before the event, and was allowed to train in the hosting stadium to train one month before the event. In the begging of the introduction of the sport, training consisted of mainly either short, intense running sessions, or long and consistent running sessions. However, over time, The athletes began to use training methods including stamina, cardiovascular and strength They used routines such as long distance running, quick sprints and weight lifting. Training for Modern Athletics In the modern world of athletics, training is a necessity for success. Many professional athletes have no other job, so therefore some of the worldclass athletes train up to 23 hours a week. Modern athletics training often consists of specific strengthening of the hips, ankles, calves and quads. To do this, many athletes spend around 30% of their training times building strength in these areas, and many others. Modern athletes can have up to five trainers, varying from physiotherapists, to fitness trainers, to speed trainers. Athletes often train by weightlifting/ ankle weight running, sprint repetitions/ time trials and endurance running. Clothing and footwear In early ancient times, athletes would race on grass tracks. Male runners would compete in bare feet, and clothe-less. However, over time, they began to wear shorts. Many, many years later, the runners began to wear lightweight shoes and clothes (this tradition is still valid for today). Nowadays, many designs of light weight, muscle-lining outfits have been designed for athletes to run in. For men, this usually consists of skin-tight, knee-length shorts and a skin-tight singlet. And for women, a skin-tight sports bra and skin-tight short-shorts/ undies. Modern athletes wear flat shoes, with specially placed spikes lined along the sole. These shoes are handy for gripping the track, so athletes can push off the ground faster, and avoid slipping over. Techniques Throughout the modernization of athletics, the techniques of athletes and their running styles has been dramatically changed. In early athletics, many athletes had their own was of starting, as block starts were not introduced until 1948. Many early athletes would start standing, lunging, or even standing side-on. As little knowledge of biomechanics was present in the early athletics, many athletes were not able to truly perform to what could have been their full potential. Throughout modern times however, we have discovered many techniques and bio-mechanical ideas to help us perform to our best. These include, adaption of timers, clothing and footwear, crouchstarting, acceleration and the physics of running. We have discovered that long strides, high knees lifts, and many other physical techniques can effect our performance. Because of this knowledge, many trainers teach their athletes how to maintain posture, balance and techniques that will get them one step further to success. A lot of this knowledge was not known in historical times, meaning that the modern world of athletics is much more technique- based than it was in the olden days. bibliography • • • • • • • • http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215451/Thinkquest%2002/ancient%20page.htm http://strengthplanet.com/other/15-surprising-facts-about-world-classathletes.htm http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni31a4.htm http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/a-new-approach-to-strengt.shtml http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/athletics-training.html http://www.oztrack.com/devsp.html http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/faq6.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_in_Ancient_Greece#Training • http://physicstt.tripod.com/id6.html