Athletics at the Summer Olympics

Events

The events contested have varied widely. From 1900 to 1920, tug of war was considered to be part of the Olympic athletics programme, although the sports of tug of war and athletics are now considered distinct.

Since 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also listed the medals from the athletics triathlon event at the 1904 Summer Olympics as part of artistic gymnastics under the designation "Individual All-Around, Field Sports Men".
Nonetheless, this event is included in the medal table below, as this reflects an original IOC sporting classification. However, some sources, such as Olympedia, include these medals in artistic gymnastics, resulting in the United States being credited with an additional gold, silver, and bronze medal in artistic gymnastics rather than in athletics.

Men's events

No new events have been added to the men's athletics programme since the 1956 addition of the short racewalk. The roster of events has not changed since then, with the exception of the omission of the long racewalk in 1976 (the IAAF held a 50 km walk World Championships that year instead and as a result the event was restored in 1980). The long racewalk is the only event currently held for men but not included on the women's programme, with the exception of women taking part in the heptathlon rather than the decathlon and the 100 metres hurdles rather than the 110 metres hurdles. The last women's event added to the roster was the 3000 metres steeplechase in 2008.

A total of 52 different events have been held in the men's competition. The current list comprises 23 events. Many of the discontinued events were similar to modern ones but at different lengths, especially in the steeplechasing, hurdling, and racewalking disciplines. Team racing events have been eliminated after appearing in six early editions of the Games. The athletic triathlon (an unusual event, held only once and featuring gymnasts competing in the long jump, shot put, and 100 metre dash) and pentathlon multi-discipline events were phased out in favor of the decathlon, and the medley relay replaced with even-leg relays. Standing jump competitions are no longer held, nor are the various modified throwing events which were experimented with in 1908 and 1912. Cross country running was on the program from 1912 to 1924 and is the most prominent form of athletics not to feature at the Olympics.

Past events that occurred only once

Only at the 1900 Summer Olympics

• 2500 metres steeplechase
• 4000 metres steeplechase
• 5000 metres team race

Only at the 1904 Summer Olympics

• 2590 metres steeplechase
• 4-mile team race
• All-around
• Triathlon

Only at the 1908 Summer Olympics

• 3200 metres steeplechase
• Medley relay
• 3-mile team race
• 5 miles
• 3500 metres race walk
• 10 miles race walk
• Discus throw, Greek style
• Javelin throw, freestyle

Only at the 1912 Summer Olympics

• Shot put, two hands
• Discus throw, two hands
• Javelin throw, two hands

Only at the 1920 Summer Olympics

• 3000 metres race walk

Past events that occurred twice to five times

• 60 metres: 1900, 1904
• 200 metres hurdles: 1900, 1904
• 3000 metres team race: 1912, 1920, 1924
• 10 kilometres race walk: 1912, 1920, 1924, 1948, 1952
• Pentathlon: 1912, 1920, 1924
• Standing long jump: 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912
• Standing triple jump: 1900, 1904
• Standing high jump: 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912
• 56 pound weight throw: 1904, 1920
• Cross country
  • Individual: 1912, 1920, 1924
  • Team: 1912, 1920, 1924

Women's events

Women's competition in athletics began at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Mixed events

The mixed event, a 4 × 400 metres relay, first made an appearance at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The event includes teams of four athletes, two men and two women who run in the order man–woman–man–woman (before 2022, each team was allowed to decide the running order individually). Paris 2024 featured another mixed team event: the Marathon Race Walking Mixed Relay, which includes teams of two athletes, one male and one female. Another mixed event called 4 × 100 metres relay was added to the Athletics programme by IOC in 2025 and is scheduled to debut at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Nations

Every nation that has competed at the Olympics has entered the athletics competition. The numbers below represent how many athletes each nation sent that year, starting with 1896.

NOTE: This table is a work in progress. The empty boxes in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 columns do not necessarily mean that the country did not send athletes that year.

Medal table

Updated after the 2024 Summer Olympics, considering stripped medals and reallocated medals as of June 2026.

Sources: