Picture this: It’s 776 B.C. a man named Koroibos is sprinting down the 600 foot track field and HE WINS! Track and field has officially been invented. However it might have been invented even prior to this. The early running races included the stadion, dolchos and diaulos. These were the events in the first 13 Greek Olympic games. The Marathon did involve running but it was not part of the original Olympic games. It was introduced in the 1896 games in Athens. The distance of the modern marathon was standardized as 26 miles and 385 yards or 42.195 kilometers in 1908 when the Olympic Games were held in London.

From 776 B.C., the games were held in Olympia every four years for almost twelve centuries. The Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America, held the first collegiate races in 1873, In 1888 the Amateur Athletic Union held its first championship. As Track and field went on a major issue for athletes was that they were amateurs. For many years Track and Field was an amateur sport and they could not earn any money for it. If the athletes did consider themselves professional, they could be banned from competition for life. Starting around the 1920s track and fields widened. The first NCAA championships were held for men in 1921. Women became a part of track and field in the Olympic games in 1928.

Women's track did indeed struggle for acceptance until around the 1970s! Track and Field enjoyed a big boom in the 70s too. During that time, the U.S.-based International Track Association (ITA) organized a professional track circuit. Although Track and Field has become a big piece of the puzzle in the Summer Olympics, professional running has had limited success.

http://www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-track-and-field.htm

https://www.reference.com/history/track-field-invented-1d55191013231199

Let’s hear what some of your classmates in Track had to say about their first memory of Track….

Anna Bleggi- “Dying in core (Working on my stomach) practice." (She was 15 at the time.)

"Jumping 14 feet in the long jumps while I thought I’d only do six." - Isaac Wagner 

On thumbnail: (Mary Cain proves that you can indeed juggle college life and run track.)